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

Abstract

The prevalence of end-stage renal failure in Curacao (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 transplante