A national survey on enhanced recovery for renal transplant recipients: current practices and trends in the UK

Sharing regional capacity in deceased donor kidney transplantation: experience from a regional collaborative in a metropolitan area

Background

Access to deceased donor kidney transplantation may be restricted in the event of resource limitation induced by extreme peaks in activity or local major incidents, which exceed centre capacity. An organ-sharing protocol was developed by the five London transplant units in 2019 to establish a system for safe transfer of organs and recipients between five regional kidney transplant units. We describe the activity and outcomes over the initial 20-month period.

Methods

National data on kidney transplants performed via the collaborative scheme were obtained from National Health Service Blood and Transplant. Outcomes data was collected locally and analysed.

Results

Sixteen recipients were transplanted between November 2020 and July 2022. The reasons for referral were theatre capacity and an information technology systems failure. Donor kidneys were from 10 brainstem death donors (62.5%) and six circulatory death donors (37.5%). Half of the donors fulfilled standard criteria. Twelve patients (75%) were first transplant recipients. Three (18.75%) were highly sensitized (calculated reaction frequency ≥85%). Three (18.75%) patients required arterial reconstruction. Seven patients (43.75%) had delayed graft function. Median creatinine at 12 months post-transplantation was 134 µmol/L. The median length of stay was 7.5 days. Three recipients (18.75%) died within the first year, two from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Conclusions

This unique organ sharing collaborative scheme involving five hospitals in London enabled 16 transplants to proceed which otherwise would not have occurred. Although initially established for low-risk donors and recipients, the scheme has evolved to enable transplantation for a wide variety of recipients of varying complexity.

Prophylactic Peri-Nephric Drain Placement in Renal Transplant Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Renal transplantation is common worldwide, with >25,000 procedures performed in 2022. Usage of prophylactic perinephric drains is variable in renal transplantation; drains are associated with risks, and there is a lack of consensus regarding benefit of routine drain placement in these patients. This meta-analysis assessed whether prophylactic drainage reduced need for reintervention postoperatively. This systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out using the Preferred Reporting Items in Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis, and prospectively registered on PROSPERO. Summary statistics for outcomes of interest underwent meta-analyses to a confidence interval (CI) of 95% and are presented as Forest Plots for Odds Ratio (OR). A systematic literature search in June 2023 revealed 1,540 unique articles across four databases. Of these, four retrospective cohort studies were selected. Meta-analysis of three studies showed no significant reduction in reintervention rate with pre-emptive drain placement, OR = 0.59 (95% CI: 0.16-2.23), p = 0.44. Meta-analysis did not show a significant reduction in perinephric collections with prophylactic drain insertion OR = 0.55 (95% CI: 0.13-2.37), p = 0.42. Finally, there is not good evidence that drain placement reduces superficial wound complications or improves 12-month graft survival. Further work is needed, including well-designed, prospective studies to assess the risks and benefits of drain placement in these patients. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023422685, Identifier PROSPERO CRD42021255795.