Kidney transplants warrant accurate anesthesiological evaluation and rigorous management in both donors and recipients. This article highlights key points Anesthesiologists and Surgeons should keep in mind. Kidneys from living donors possess better graft and instill higher patient survival rates for the recipient than kidneys from deceased donors. The reason for this is understood as living donors are physiologically and hemodynamically normal.
Hence, the graft is not exposed to ischemic alterations associated with brain death or cardiac death in deceased donors. Also, transplantation can be scheduled electively, with both donor and recipient surgeries coordinated at the same facility and time. This minimizes cold ischemia time for the donated kidney which increases acceptance rates of the kidney. In ideal circumstances, kidney transplantation from a living donor is preemptive, so…
