[Polycystic kidney in the adult and kidney transplantation. Our experience].

OBJECTIVES: To determine the need for nephrectomy prior to renal transplantation in patients with adult polycystic renal disease. METHODS: We reviewed the records of 54 (31 females, 23 males) of 62 patients with polycystic renal disease that had been treated at our center from 1951 to 1994. Eight of the earlier cases, whose complete clinical data were unavailable, were excluded from the study. The patients were classified into three groups: nephrectomized transplanted, nephrectomized non-transplanted and non-nephrectomized transplanted patients. RESULTS: No patient had required nephrectomy due to a tumor. No surgical difficulty during transplantation had been reported in the non-nephrectomized patients. Nephrectomy had been performed in most of the cases for hematuria or preparatory to renal transplantation. The infections complications (11.76%) were resolved with antibiotic therapy. CONCLUSIONS: In the absence of renal tumor and given the low prevalence of complicated cysts, in our view it is unnecessary to perform nephrectomy routinely prior to renal transplantation in patients with adult polycystic renal disease. Nephrectomy should be reserved for cases with severe cystic complications, such as severe intracystic hemorrhage, hematuria causing anemia, pyonephrosis, or patients with grossly enlarged kidneys in whom we suspect that technical difficulties might arise at the time of transplantation.