Kidney Transplantation in the Elderly

In this paper current state of the art in kidney transplantation in the elderly is discussed. Due to ageing of the society, including patients with end-stage renal disease, kidney transplantation in individuals over 65 years of age becomes more and more common. Organ allocation policy in accordance with the applicable Polish regulations, including the “old-for-old” principle concerning preferential transplantation of kidneys from donors over 65 years of age to recipients over 60 years old, is discussed. The use of kidneys obtained from elderly donors entails major medical problems and the personnel involved in the process should minimise the negative effects of the donor’s age and the cold ischaemia time on the recipient’s prognosis. The recipient’s elderly age affects the mechanisms of repair, function of the immune system, and pharmacokinetics of immunosuppressive medications.