Clinical outcome of renal transplantation. Factors influencing patient and graft survival.

The 1-year graft survival rate for primary cadaver kidney transplants performed in the US during the past 9 years was 82%, and it was 94% when living donor kidneys were transplanted. After the first year, however, half of the surviving cadaveric grafts will fail within 8 years. This late rate has not changed substantially in the past 20 years. This article describes some of the factors that affect long-term graft and patient survival rates.