The relationship between cause of death of the kidney donor and the presence of ischemic lesions in the kidney.

Chronic ischemic lesions in the donor kidney amplify the nephrotoxic effects of cyclosporine A. With increasing age, the presence of chronic ischemic lesions in the kidney increases, and data concerning the fate of kidney grafts from older donors are conflicting. Kidney from donors with an intracerebral bleed do less well compared to kidneys from other donors. Systematic data on the relationship between donor age, cause of death and severity of chronic ischemic lesions are lacking. This study was performed to investigate this relationship.