Living Kidney Donor Transplantation in a Resource-limited Country: The Ivory Coast Experience.

Renal transplantation that offers a good quality of life still is not performed by the majority of countries of black Africa. We started a pilot project of renal transplantation in Ivory Coast 2 years ago. The present paper reports the preliminary results, difficulties related to the program, and perspectives regarding its expansion. Ten living related kidney transplantations have been performed over a 2-year period. Recipients and their respective donors were male. The mean age of the recipients was 42.8 years (22-57), and the mean age of the donors was 29.4 years (22-43). The mean number of mismatches was 3.2 (0-6). None was immunized. Recipients and donors were all EBV IgG positive and CMV IgG positive. All but 1 case were induced with basiliximab. The mean graft and patient survival time was 16.6 months (6-26). The mean cold ischemic time was 2.27 hours (1-3.32). The mean serum creatinine at discharge was 241.87 μmol/L (115.18-1063.2), at 6 months was 117.20 μmol/l (95.6-139.9), at 12 months was 104.55 μmol/L (62.02-132.9), and at 24 months was 104.55 μmol/L (62.02-132.9). The mean cyclosporine through level (C0) at 6 months was 137.57 ng/mL (70-366), at 12 months was 117.33 ng/mL (62-197), and at 24 months was 78 ng/mL. The mean cyclosporine 2-hour post-administration concentration levels (C2) at 6 months was 764.9 ng/mL (430-1421), at 12 months was 937.17 ng/mL (483-1292), and at 24 months was 690.66 ng/mL (488-853). Main complications were sepsis, adenovirus hemorrhagic cystitis, new-onset diabetes after transplantation, delayed graft function, polycythemia, and cytomegalovirus infection. No clinical rejection was diagnosed over the 2-year period. Patient and graft survival was 100% at a mean post-transplantation time of approximately 16.6 months.