Successful Kidney Transplantation in an Advanced Elderly at Federal Medical Center Abuja: A Case Presentation

Background: Kidney transplantation (KTP) in elderly can be challenging with fears of mortality that is unrelated to surgery. Generally, elderly patients are defined as individuals aged 65 years and older. These group of individuals has been further subdivide unto ‘early elderly’ or ‘late elderly’. KTP is a form of stress which invariably triggers off significant impactful metabolic response in these group of weak and delicate individuals. Objective: End stage renal disease (ESRD) occurs in all age groups and the prevalence increases with aging due to associated comorbid conditions like diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension. This co-morbidities are confirmed etiology of ESRD. The aim of this case presentation is to emphasize that age is not an absolute contraindication to KTP. The emphasis should rather dwell on careful patient selection, good surgical techniques as well as adequate post-operative care and follow up. Conclusion: We report a case of an 81 year old male patient with ESRD secondary to long term DM and hypertension who had kidney transplantation in our facility with impressive outcome. We had our fears prior to KTP as per advanced age, drug burden and compliance despite excellent HLA typing and cross matching. However we were able to navigate these challenges by use of branded immunosuppressive drugs, living related donor, good surgical techniques, regular follow up as well as engaging a domiciliary care giver in order to ensure strict drug compliance while envisaging long term graft survival.