Background: Kidney transplantation is the method of choice for patients with end stage kidney disease. Surgical complications remain a serious clinical problem and can lead to loss of graft function.
Aim: Analysis of surgical complications in patients after single kidney transplant from cadaver donors and their influence on the function of the transplanted graft.
Methods: Patients after a single kidney transplant from a cadaver donor (n = 566) between 1/2006-4/2009 in the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine.
Results: Individual surgical complications did not affect the delayed onset of graft function. A significantly higher serum creatinine in the 3rd month was observed in the group of patients with urinary leak (p = 0.02) compared with a group of patients without complications. The serum creatinine at 6th month was not affected by any surgical complication. Serum creatinine at 12th month was statistically significantly higher in the group of patients with lymphocele (p = 0.028) compared with a group of patients without complications. The surgical complications which had a significant effect on one year graft survival were infectious wound complications in the recipient (p < 0.05), renal artery stenosis (p < 0.05) and renal vein thrombosis (p < 0.01).
Conclusions: The onset of graft function was not affected by surgical complications. The group of patients with urinary leak had higher serum creatinine in 3rd month and patients with lymphocele in 12th month. Infectious wound complications, renal artery stenosis and renal vein thrombosis decrease the 1-year graft survival.