Issues in Pediatric Kidney Transplantation

AbstractPurpose of ReviewPediatric kidney transplants have been performed for more than five decades. To achieve excellent patient outcomes, collaboration of multiple subspecialties is required. This manuscript will review recent advancements in different fields that relate to pediatric kidney transplantation.Recent FindingsWith improvements in patient selection, drugs, perioperative care, surgical technique and postoperative monitoring, outcomes including graft survival, patient survival, and delayed graft function/primary non-function have improved. Immunosuppressive regimens that minimize corticosteroids are increasingly implemented and long-term side effects of antirejection drugs such as infections and metabolic/endocrine dysregulation are better understood. The anesthetic management of pediatric kidney recipients has remained largely the same over the years, but newer technologies and drugs are beginning to be implemented.SummaryThe field of pediatric kidney transplantation has seen significant improvements in outcomes but still suffers from a discrepancy between graft demand and supply. The future will likely see efforts directed towards improved graft allocation policies, attempts to increase living donations, and new approaches such as alternative graft sources from tissue engineering and recovery of kidney function using regenerative medicine.
Source: Current Anesthesiology Reports - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: research