The Kidney Transplant Lottery: A Highly Sensitized Patient, Without Mismatches and Vein Thrombosis of the Graft; A Case Report

A kidney transplant is the best option for patients with end-stage renal disease. The waiting list period can be long, especially for highly sensitized patients. We describe a 60-year-old woman who received a second transplant and was highly sensitized to vascular access exhaustion, anuric, and performing peritoneal dialysis. At 27 days post-transplant, the patient developed thrombosis of the allograft vein, oliguria, and elevated serum creatinine. Fibrinolysis was attempted, but the patient remained oliguric and with acute graft dysfunction. She had a suction thrombectomy using the Penumbra System, allowing the removal of all thrombi and repermeabilization of the vein graft, resolving the acute graft dysfunction.