Successful Third Kidney Transplantation in a Nigerian Kidney Transplant Center: A Case Report

Patients with end-stage renal disease have limited options in the course of their management. Kidney transplantation (KT) remains the gold standard for the management of renal replacement therapy. There is increasing evidence supporting the viability of third and fourth KTs. Due to the complexities of carrying out a successful third KT and the scarcity of living organ donors, it is not a common procedure in Nigeria's few renal transplant centres. To date, there is no reported case of a successful third KT in Nigeria. Here, we present the first reported case of a third KT carried out in Nigeria on a 44-year-old hypertensive, hepatitis B-infected, non-diabetic male patient. He had the first living donor KT eight years ago, which he lost due to poor immunosuppressive medication adherence. He then had a second living donor, KT, four years ago. Both KTs were from altruistic donors and were performed in the same hospital outside Nigeria. He developed allograft nephropathy after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine 16 months ago and lost the second graft as a result. He was worked up and transplanted at our centre. Third kidney transplantation can be performed successfully despite the challenges of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) sensitization, antibiotic resistance, and surgical placement of the graft.

ABO-incompatible repeat kidney transplantation: Coping with the 'twin immunological barrier'

A repeat renal transplantation is believed to confer the best survival advantage for allograft failure. The scarcity of matching donors at one end, coupled with the expanding pool of ABO-incompatible (ABOi) donors at the other end, lead us to consider the option of ABOi kidney re-transplantation. However, ABOi kidney re-transplantation is associated with heightened immunological risk due to the presence of two substantial immunological barriers. Concern, queries, and uncertainty exist over the course and outcome of this option. We prospectively studied five patients who underwent live-related ABOi re-transplantation after a failed previous transplant. Four patients (mean age 40.8 ± 6.6 years, 4 males) underwent a second renal transplant, whereas one patient had a third renal transplant. All patients received desensitization with rituximab, plasmapheresis, and intravenous immunoglobulin as per routine protocol. One patient required immunoadsorption to achieve the desired Anti-ABO titer. All five patients had good graft survival. One of them developed combined antibody and cell-mediated rejection and another antibody-mediated rejection. Live-related ABOi kidney re-transplantation could be a viable option for patients with a previously failed graft.

Repeated kidney re-transplantation in times of organ shortage - a critical review

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Organ shortage forces those responsible to streamline allocation rules to provide a maximum of candidates with a graft and to optimize transplant outcome. Recently, repeated kidney re-transplantation was investigated in several studies with different analytic settings concerning the control group, the donors, parameters influencing outcome, and demographic characteristics. This review gives an overview on the candidates awaiting a repeated re-transplantation, summarizes the outcome, and comments on the relevance of these findings in the context of sustained organ shortage.

RECENT FINDINGS

Repeated kidney re-transplantation is technically and immunologically feasible and the recipients' survival is better compared to candidates remaining on dialysis or on the waiting-list. However, the outcome is mainly reported to be worse as compared to first or second kidney transplantation. Kidneys from living donors seem to have a favorable impact on outcome in this setting.

SUMMARY

The survival benefit of repeated re-transplantation recipients over patients on dialysis demands for continuation of this procedure. Comprehensive registries are essential to continuously optimize allocation. Governmental authorities are obliged to set the course to increase organ donation rather than forcing transplant decision makers to withhold a third or fourth graft from any candidate.

Beyond the Limits: How to Avoid a Surgical Nightmare in the Third and Subsequent Renal Transplantation Procedures

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Approximately, 25% of the patients with ESRD will enter the waiting list for kidney transplantation. Among these patients, almost 15% will require a retransplantation surgery. This review aims to summarize the most recent information on different controversial issues regarding retransplantation, to provide the reader with a clear and updated view on the topic.

RECENT FINDINGS

Despite current evidence is mainly based on retrospective, small, single-center experiences, it seems clear that retransplantation remains a surgical and immunological challenge, for which the perioperative management still remains crucial to avoid mishaps. Different surgical approaches have been tested, but the general consensus advocates for the heterotopic extraperitoneal in first instance. Although higher immunological risk and complication rates are reported invariably in the available series, the benefits in terms of overall survival are superior to those obtained under dialysis, thus still representing the most recommended option for this group of patients.

Successful Third Kidney Transplant After Desensitization for Combined Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) and ABO Incompatibility: A Case Report and Review of Literature

BACKGROUND In the present era, kidney transplantation across immunological barriers (ABO incompatibility and human leucocyte antigen (HLA) incompatibility) is a successful strategy to provide transplantation to immunologically high-risk patients. The safety and outcome of crossing both ABO and HLA barriers simultaneously in a retransplantation scenario is rarely reported from the developing world. CASE REPORT A 30-year-old female underwent a third living donor kidney transplantation. Her previous 2 transplants being lost to chronic allograft nephropathy. The transplantation was done across a simultaneous blood group as well as HLA incompatibility. The donor was the mother who was blood group B, with the recipient being blood group O. The complement dependent cytotoxicity crossmatch of the pair was negative but the flow cross match for T as well as B lymphocytes was positive. The mean fluorescence intensity value for class I antigens was 6951 and that for class 2 antigens was 7534. The patient underwent a desensitization procedure including rituximab, plasmapheresis and intravenous immunoglobulin pre-transplantation. The pre-transplantation isohemaglutunin titer was <1: 8 and the donor specific antibody against class 1 antigens was <2200 and <770 against class 2 antigens. Induction was done with anti-thymocyte globulin in the dose of 3 mg/kg in 2 divided doses. The patient is maintained on triple immunosuppression with tacrolimus, prednisolone and mycophenolate mofetil. After a follow-up period of 5 months, she maintains a good graft function with serum creatinine of 1.01 mg/dL. CONCLUSIONS With the advances in the desensitizing procedures in the developing world, kidney transplantation across a combined HLA and ABO incompatible barrier can be offered to these highly sensitized patients, even in case of retransplantation.