Kidney Structural Features from Living Donors Predict Graft Failure in the Recipient.
Naim IssaCamden L LopezAleksandar DenicSandra J TalerJoseph J LarsonWalter K KremersLuisa RicaurteMassini A MerzkaniMariam Priya AlexanderHarini A ChakkeraMark D StegallJoshua J AugustineAndrew D RulePublished in: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN (2020)
Subclinical nephrosclerosis, larger cortical nephron size, and smaller medullary volume in healthy donors modestly predict death-censored graft failure in the recipient, independent of donor or recipient clinical characteristics. These findings provide insights into a graft's "intrinsic quality" at the time of donation, and further support the use of intraoperative biopsies to identify kidney grafts that are at higher risk for failure.