NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kidneys from older donors provide good allograft function and most recipients do well, according to a report published in the April issue of the Archives of Surgery.

The findings are based on a study of 324 recipients who underwent renal transplantation at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. The subjects were divided into four groups based on whether the donor was living or deceased and on the donor's age, no older than 54 years or at least 55 years. The mean follow-up period was 32 months.

The average age for recipients of older donor kidneys was 53.6 years, significantly older than that for recipients of younger donor kidneys, at 43.6 years, lead author Dr. Paul E. Morrissey and colleagues note.

Seven of 55 grafts (12.7%) from older donors failed compared with 41 of 269 grafts from younger donors (15.2%), the researchers note. Although superior renal function was seen with grafts from younger donors, renal function was graded as acceptable in all four patient groups.

The researchers also found no differences between older and younger donor kidneys in terms of graft survival at 1, 2, and 3 years after transplant.

"This single-center experience supports the recent trend to use kidneys from older donors and expels the notion that marginal donors uniformly provide inferior kidney allografts," the investigators emphasize.

"The transplantation of selected kidneys from older donors...may be better than waiting with continued dialysis for some patients," they add.

Arch Surg 2004;139:384-389

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