Do the outcomes of living donor renal allograft recipients differ with peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis as a bridge renal replacement therapy?

This study was undertaken to compare the outcomes of living donor renal transplant recipients using peritoneal dialysis (PD) and hemodialysis (HD) as a bridge modality for renal replacement therapy till renal transplantation. The demographic profiles of the recipients and donors, the patients' native kidney disease (diabetic versus non-diabetic), duration on dialysis, requirement of anti-hypertensive drugs, number of blood transfusions, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) mismatch status, pre- and post-transplant infectious complications, and post-transplant outcomes of patients were compared between the two groups. The demographic features of the study patients were similar in the two groups. The duration of dialysis prior to transplant was significantly longer in the PD group than in the HD group of patients. The anti-hypertensive drug requirement was lower and the hemoglobin level and residual urine volume at the time of transplant were relatively better in the PD patients compared to the HD patients. The number of acute rejection episodes, delayed graft function, surgical complications, glomerular filtration rate at one month and at the last follow-up, were also similar in both groups. The short-term and long-term graft survival was similar in both groups of patients. The one-, two-, five-, and eight-year death-censored graft survival rates of the PD patients were 98, 95, 85, and 73%, respectively, and in the HD group of patients, they were 100, 93, 84, and 79%, respectively. The one-, two-, five-, and eight-year patient survival rates in the PD group were 97, 92, 77, and 66%, respectively, and in the HD group, they were 97, 92, 79, and 69%, respectively. Our study suggests that the outcomes of the living donor renal allograft recipients did not differ between the groups of patients who used PD or HD as renal replacement therapy prior to renal transplantation.