ABSTRACT
Introduction Only a quarter of renal transplant recipients have an uncomplicated course. Ideally, they would not have preformed antibodies to histocompatibility antigens (HLA), and would be free of medical problems other than end stage renal disease. The donor kidney would come from ‘a two haplotype matched sibling or otherwise, a left sided, HLA compatible, cadaver kidney retrieved from a haemodynamically stable, young, beating heart donor at the recipient’s own hospital’ (Allen and Chapman 1994, p 110). The surgical procedure would follow shortly after the cadaver donor procedure and urine would start flowing within minutes of releasing the vascular clamps towards the conclusion of the recipient surgery. Maintenance immunosuppression would minimise episodes of acute rejection and side effects would be negligible.
