Does Renal Artery Multiplicity Have Impact on Patient andAllograft Survival Rates?

Background and Aims: Successful transplantation of allografts with multiple renal arteries (MRAs) is one ofthe challenges and requires investigation of its impact on post-transplant graft and patient outcome. The aimof this study was to determine the impact of kidneys with MRAs on graft and patient survival rates.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 90 grafts with MRAs that were performedbetween June 1995 and June 2008. Recipients were divided into 3 groups: group I (n =230) single renal artery,group II (n =83) with double renal arteries and group III (n =7) with triple renal arteries. The aspects analyzedwere number of kidney’s arteries, donor type, vascular reconstruction technique, surgical complications, aswell as patient and graft survival.Results: No significant differences were noted in the sex of the recipients, donor source, body mass index(BMI) at the time of transplantation, causes of ESRD, occurrence of complications, vascular reconstructiontechnique, warm ischemic times, number of transplantation and immunosuppression regimen. The meancold ischemic time in MRAs group was significantly higher than the control group (P 0.05). One year patientsurvival rates were 97%, 97% and 71% in groups I, II and III, respectively (I vs. II, P=0.7, HR=1.26; I vs. III,P=0.004, HR=0.09 and II vs. III, P=0.01, HR=0.07). The graft survival rates at one year were 95% in groupI; 95% in group II; and 71% in group III (I vs. II, P= 0.4, HR=0.69; I vs. III, P=0.001, HR=0.11 and II vs. III,P=0.007, HR=0.15).Conclusions: These findings indicate that kidney transplantation using grafts with MRAs are safe and resultin acceptable patient and allograft outcome.