EXPERIENCES WITH RENAL HOMOTRANSPLANTATION IN THE HUMAN: REPORT OF NINE CASES 1

Abstract

Nine cases of homo-transplantation in man are reported. Four of the 9 transplants developed measureable function, secreting urine for 37 to 180 days. The pathologic picture which accompanies homograft failure in the human is qualitatively similar to that seen in experimental animals, but appears more slowly and is considerably less intense. Pathologic changes were observed in 2 of the transplants, however, that were not seen in animal experiments: (1) Severe acute glomerulonephritis developed within 38 days in a homograft performed in a patient with polyarteritis nodosa, and (2) marked atherosclerosis of intra-renal vessels occurred within 183 days in a homotransplant performed in a patient with severe hypertension. If auto-antibodies against kidney tissue are present in the blood of patients with chronic glomerulonephritis, they are not effective in producing this disease in the transplanted kidney. Function of the transplanted kidney, even after 3 hours of ischemia, was about 25% of normal.