Renal Data from the Arab World: Recipient characteristics and outcome of pediatric kidney transplantation at the King Fahad Specialist Hospital-Dammam

The success of a pediatric kidney transplantation program can only be judged by reviewing its results. We aim to audit our short-term outcome of pediatric kidney transplantation at the King Fahad Specialist Hospital-Dammam. A retrospective chart review was performed to collect data about recipient demographics,etiology of end-stage kidney disease,type of dialysis,type of donor and outcome. Between September 2008 and April 2012,35 pediatric kidney trans-plantations ( 16 year) were performed of a total of 246 kidney transplants (14.2%). The mean age was 8.1 years,with a mean weight of 23.3 kg,and there were 21 (60%) boys in the study. Kidney dysplasia/hypoplasia was the most common etiology (51.4%). Preemptive kidney transplantation was performed in six (17%) patients. Peritoneal dialysis was the most common mode of dialysis [24 (69%) children]. Living donation was the source of kidney allografts in 13 (37%) cases. During a mean follow-up of 1.5 years,one patient died and one graft was lost due to kidney vein thrombosis. The one year patient and graft survival rates were 97% and 94%,respectively. Efforts should now be focused on achieving optimal long-term results. There is also a need to encourage preemptive transplantation and living donation in this population.