Renal functional reserve in kidney donors.

The glomerular filtration rates of 28 subjects, who had undergone donor nephrectomy up to 22 years previously, were measured before and after ingestion of an 80 g protein meal. A renal functional reserve was demonstrated in all cases. There was no evidence of loss of this reserve with time after nephrectomy. This study supports the view that long-term compensatory hyperfiltration of the remaining kidney after donor nephrectomy is not damaging, at least over this time scale.