Transplantation in patients with diabetic nephropathy.

In juvenile--onset diabetes uremia is the main cause of death. Since 1972 until Oct. 1979 a total of 47 diabetics have been transplanted in Gothenburg, of these 40 were juvenile--onset diabetics without concomitant renal disease. Twenty-four were male and 16 female. The diabetic nephropathy was not an isolated phenomenon. Complications from other organs were present parallel with the kidney disease. Hypertension was present in 39 of 40 patients before transplantation. Most patients have been transplanted in terminal uremic stage, 21 were on dialysis. The overall mortality at the end of the observation period was 33% but during the later part, that is from 1976 onwards only 2 out of 26 transplanted patients have died so far (8%). Fourteen of these 26 patients were grafted with kidneys from living related donors compared to one of fourteen during the first period. This may be one of the main reasons to the improved results during the last years.