Characterising recovery from renal transplantation and live-related donation using cardiopulmonary exercise testing.

Recovery following renal transplantation and donation differ. Transplantation improves renal function resulting in an increase in anaerobic threshold and peak oxygen uptake which essentially normalise by the 14th week post-operatively. Donors suffer a 20% reduction in cardiopulmonary reserve post-operatively, which recovers by the 14th week, suggesting no associated chronic exercise intolerance.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONCardiopulmonary exercise testing is a real-time predictor of functional capacity and thus is used as a pre-operative tool to measure physiological fitness and predict outcomes.Renal failure is associated with exercise intolerance and transplantation is transformational in terms of quality of life, longevity and healthcare cost.Live - related renal donation is increasingly available but whether donation itself carries a long-term health burden has not been previously well established.This study suggests that renal donation is not associated with long-term cardiopulmonary compromise and patients who donate their kidneys recover their previous fitness within 14 weeks.