Course of transplanted cadaver donor kidneys with previously existing pathology.

Seventeen cases were studied in which the contralateral donor kidney was available for comparison with the transplanted kidney after it was removed from the host following varying periods of survival. The following morphologic observations were made: Arteries exhibiting arteriosclerosis appeared, in the new host, to take on a distinct new cellular deposit which was superimposed on the previously existing hyalinization in the intima. Except for one instance in which the host had secondary hyperparathyroidism, calcification in the donor organ did not undergo significant change. In some instances, the lymphocytes which existed in the donor kidney prior to transplantation appeared to undergo proliferation and produce a localized graft-versus-host reaction in the recipient.