Kidney Transplantation from Spousal Donors

Kidney transplantation has become a routine and efficient treatment for end-stage renal disease.¹ However, a severe shortage of cadaveric kidneys has hampered wider use of this technique and is perhaps the most important obstacle facing transplantation today. As a consequence, transplantation surgeons now take kidneys from donors who might have been passed over a decade ago because of older age or vascular diseases. Using such donors increases the odds that the grafted kidney will have a delay in function and a poor long-term outcome.² Although cadaveric kidneys are used in the majority of transplantations, living related donors are an important . . .