How long does a transplanted kidney last?

Her face struck me as first-impressed when she entered the office, and she noticed. But I did not identify her until she told me not to recognize her, even though 10 years ago she had had a kidney transplant. In fact, it was almost the same time that I did not see it, mainly because in our country, the vast majority of renal transplant patients are followed up with their general practitioners, who are nephrologists. Another reason she had not seen her again is because of the success of her transplant. That is, there was no surgical reason for me to consult.

Although this time her gynecologist had referred to me for a groin trouble, her real concern was that someone had told her that transplanted kidneys only lasted for 10 years.

I had to explain to him that this information is misapplied statistical data, since when these studies are done based on the clinical records, the figures that are published are "averages". That is, when we count the functional evolution of the transplanted kidneys, we will have a number of cases of kidneys that have lost their kidney function for different causes and multiple factors, some of them in relative short time, which goes From one to five years, but others maintain their functioning for many years.

In our country we have a record of patients with functional renal transplantation for 25 years. As well as others with 23, 21, 20, 19, 17, 14 ..., years, in good health.

The reasons for the durability of a transplant are so varied, ranging from "chronic rejection" for immunological reasons, transplant nephropathy because of some medications, as well as interstitial nephritis because of other medications. Another effect is due to the recurrence of the original disease in the transplanted kidney, as well as to the continuous effect of the medical conditions that the patient carries before transplantation, such as hypertension, diabetes and hyperuricemia (uric acid) .

But there are also external factors that have to do with loss of function in transplants, such as: the age and functional status of the transplanted organ. Because a kidney donated by a 60-year-old does not rejuvenate a 20-year-old patient.

To this is added the quality of preservation of the transplanted organ, since the statistical average is better in the transplanted kidneys of living donors than in the case of deceased donors.

In the first, the transplant is done a few minutes after being extracted from the donor. While in organs of deceased donors, although

'Preservation in situ', usually take from 12 to 36 hours for transplantation. The fact of better compatibility also plays a long-term role in transplant durability.

In conclusion: The durability of a kidney transplant is unpredictable, and the only thing we can do is take care of it as much as possible, usually taking the indicated medications, and doing their routine check-ups in the indicated time, besides leading a life and food as healthy possible.