Renal transplantation (RTx) has become the treatment of choice for
end-stage renal disease (
ESRD) in
autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (
ADPKD), the most common genetic
kidney disease. Because of the inheritable nature of this disease, live related donors might be avoided due to the fear of future appearance of polycystic disease. This retrospective singlecenter study was undertaken to evaluate patient/graft survival function vis-a-vis serum
creatinine (SCr), rejection episodes and mortality in
ADPKD vs matched control patients. Between 2000 and 2009, 18 (7.4%) deceased donor renal transplant (DDRTx) were performed for
ESRD due to
ADPKD. Diagnosis of
ADPKD was established by family history and ultrasound. An individualized approach was applied for the need of pre-transplant
nephrectomy. All recipients received rabbit-
anti-thymocyte globulin induction and maintenance triple immunosuppression.
Delayed graft function was observed in 33% patients, and 16% had biopsy-proven acute rejection. Over mean follow-up of 4.67 ± 2.2 years, patient and graft survival rates were 72.22% and 83.33%, with mean SCr (mg/dL) of 1.44 ± 0.54, 1.78 ± 0.42 and 2.2 ± 0.6 at 1, 5 and 10 years. Overall, 44.4% (n-8) underwent pre-transplant
nephrectomy.
Infection and cardio/cerebrovascular events were the main causes of death. Patient, graft survival and acute rejection were similar between
ADPKD and control group. DDRTx in
ADPKD has acceptable patient and graft survival. Because of the inheritable nature of the disease, and unavailability of genetic linkage analysis as a routine, DDRTx is a viable option to avoid using unrelated donors.