Renal function studies after nephrectomy in renal donors.

Two to six years after they had donated a kidney the 24-hour creatinine clearances of five women and four men had recovered to 85% and 87% respectively of prenephrectomy performance. The male donors had a lower 24-hour creatinine clearance than age-matched controls, but during dextrose and inulin infusion they had similar values for inulin clearance, creatinine clearance, and glucose reabsorption. By contrast, the female donors had significantly reduced clearances both over 24 hours and during infusion, as well as impaired ability to reabsorb glucose. This suggests that potential female donors should be more vigorously investigated before nephrectomy.