Ten-yr results of the trans-Atlantic kidney transplant airlift between the Dutch Caribbean and the Netherlands

Minnee RC, Lardy N, Ajubi N, Idu MM, Kock RV, Legemate DA, van Donselaar-van der Pant KAMI, Bemelman FJ. Ten-yr results of the trans-Atlantic kidney transplant airlift between the Dutch Caribbean and the Netherlands.
Clin Transplant 2011: 25: 302–307. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Abstract: The prevalence of end-stage renal failure in Curaçao (Dutch Caribbean) is one of the highest in the world. In 1998, the St. Elisabeth Hospital started a unique trans-Atlantic collaboration with the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the Eurotransplant Foundation. The partnership aimed to achieve a structured transplantation program for patients in the Dutch Caribbean, who otherwise would need lifelong dialysis. This study is an analysis of the 10-yr transplantation results of this trans-Atlantic program. In 41 consecutive transplantations performed between January 1998 and April 2007, one-yr graft survival and complication rates were retrospectively studied. Twenty-four men and 17 women with a median age of 54 were transplanted. The median dialysis period prior to transplantation was 6.8 yr. The one-yr graft survival rate was 69% (95% confidence interval: 52–80%). Initially 28 grafts functioned (68%); four grafts showed primary non-function (10%) and delayed graft function developed in nine patients (22%). Ten recipients had 16 post-operative complications. Our trans-Atlantic program affords patients with end-stage renal failure, who otherwise would need lifelong dialysis, a chance to be transplanted.