The functional pattern of the transplanted kidney during the first year.

Prospective studies on kidney function have been carried out 1-14 months after transplantation in two groups of recipients of renal transplants. Both groups were characterized by immediate graft function. The first group had transplants from living donors, the second had received cadaveric kidneys. In the first group a functional maximum (as measured by 125iothalamate, creatine and 131I-hippuran clearances) was reached during the first three weeks after transplantation, approximating 70% of the donors' bilateral preoperative function. In the second group kidney function was constant during the period of study, the values being almost identical with those observed in the first group. At investigation 12-14 months after transplantation, the two groups were compared with the remaining cadaveric transplants carried out during the period of study, the latter being primarily graft anuric. Graft function in the primarily anuric grafts was found to be poorer than in those with initial function. Graft survival, too, was poorer at one year in the group characterized by primary graft anuria than in the other groups. Graft survival at one year was 68% in cadaveric kidney transplants with good initial function.