Human Renal Homotransplantations With Cadaver Kidneys

Abstract

Encouraging results in renal homotransplantation have recently been reported by several investigators.^1-4 However, any physician currently engaged in transplantation is reluctant to accept a living healthy person as a donor, because of the uncertainty of length of survival of the recipient. Therefore, it seems appropriate to reevaluate the use of cadaver kidneys for renal homotransplantation. Hume and associates, ⁵ in 1955, first described their experience in human renal homografts from cadaver kidneys, and in one of six of their patients, the transplanted kidney functioned for six months. Since then several cases of renal homografts of cadaveric kidneys have been reported by others.^6,7 This report concerns our experience with renal homografts from cadaveric kidneys in 19 consecutive patients operated upon between January 1963 and July 1964; the first nine of those patients have been discussed elsewhere.^" Materials and Methods Recipients.— All patients had uremia in a terminal stage resulting