[Outcome assessment of kidney transplantation in Katowice in years 1983-2000].

The aim of this study was to analyze the 20 years experience of the Renal Transplantation Center in Katowice in which 681 kidney transplants in 678 patients were performed between March 1983 and December 2000. Several parameters have been analyzed in this group: HLA class I and class II antigens compatibility, the mean cold ischaemia time, time to restore renal function, recipient's mortality, the causes of recipients' death, the early post-transplant complications, and patients' and grafts' survival. In the analyzed period of time HLA matching improved significantly (the median number of matched antigens of class I and II increased from 1 to 3) and the mean cold ischaemia time decreased from 27 to 20 hours. The number of transplants with early graft function increased from 9.5 to 42% and the number of primary non-functioning grafts decreased from 16 to 9%. Also recipients' early mortality declined significantly (from 31 to 5.5%). Among early post-transplant complications cases with sepsis and gastrointestinal bleeding decreased significantly. Improvement of both one-year and five-years graft survival was observed. During the observation period the number of donors did not changed and the rate of living kidney donors remained very low (1.76% of all transplants).