Post-transplantation surgical complications in renal transplant recipient patients – An institution based prospective study

Introduction: Kidney transplant remains one of the pioneer branches of solid organ transplant worldwide. With refinement of surgical techniques, especially vascular anastomosis principles, the incidence of surgical complications remains low. Also with introduction of modern immunosuppressant protocol, the incidence of acute graft rejection has come down to less than 1%. But, surgical complications still remain one of the most important post-transplant complications in both early and late periods. Methods: This is a prospective, observational study comprising both live related and deceased donor transplant cases from January 2011 to December 2012 in Department of Kidney Transplantation, Care Hospitals, Hyderabad. Donor characteristics, including number of renal arteries, were noted. Post-renal transplant surgical complications, including arterial, venous, ureteric, lymphocele, and wound infections, were studied. Results: We observed arterial stenosis in 3 (3.66%) patients, arterial thrombosis in 1 (0.91%) patient, venous thrombosis in 1 (0.91%) patient, 4 (3.66%) ureteric complications, 5 (4.58%) wound infections, and intracranial hemorrhage in 1 (0.91%) patient. Conclusions: Surgical complication rates were relatively low in our study. Early diagnosis and effective management of surgical complications were associated with both better graft and patient survival after one year of follow-up in this study