Open AccessWhy do some diabetic patients on the kidney transplant waiting list not receive a transplant?
Author(s) -
Kyllönen Lauri,
Salmela Kaija
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
transplant international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.998
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1432-2277
pISSN - 0934-0874
DOI - 10.1111/j.1432-2277.2004.tb00480.x
Subject(s) - medicine , kidney transplant , waiting list , renal transplant , nephrology , kidney transplantation , medline , intensive care medicine , general surgery , kidney , transplantation , political science , law
The waiting list (WL) history of 405 diabetic patients placed on the kidney transplantation WL for the years 1993–2000 was examined. By 31 December 2000, 295 (73 %) patients had received a transplant. Of the remaining 110 patients 53 (13 %) were still on the WL; 27 of these were temporarily withdrawn, i.e. non‐active, 46 others (11 %) had died and 11 (3%) had been permanently removed. Patient follow‐up continued until the end of 2002. Although the mean total time on the WL of the non‐transplanted was twice that of the transplanted patients there were no significant differences in the mean active times on the WL. The mean cumulative withdrawal time of the transplanted and those on the active WL was less than 10 % of their total time on the list, but for the patients who had died or were withdrawn on 31 December 2000 it exceeded 50 %, usually because of diabetic complications. The 5‐year survival of the transplanted patients was greatly superior to that of the non‐transplanted, as expected. However, the better survival of the transplanted patients is not necessarily proof of a better treatment modality but rather a consequence of the exclusion from transplantation of patients suffering from diabetic complications. It is not justified to compare the survival of transplantable and non‐transplantable WL patients.