Demographic Features and Variations of Blood Vessels in Voluntary Kidney Donors at A North Indian Hospital

Abstract

Background: Living kidney donation remains the preferred source of renal grafts, making careful evaluation of donor demographics and renal vascular anatomy essential for safe transplantation. Preoperative identification of renal arterial and venous variations helps optimize surgical planning and reduce intraoperative complications.

Objective: To study the demographic characteristics (gender ratio, age range, blood group, and relation of donor to recipient) and vascular variations in number and branching pattern of voluntary kidney donors (VKD) over seven years of renal transplantation done by a single surgical team at two hospitals consecutively.

Methods: Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA) images of 179 donors were retrospectively studied. Transplants were done from May 2012 to Sept 2024 by the same surgical team at two centers in sequence. Demographic profiles of voluntary kidney donors were analyzed.

Results: Amongst the 179 donors, 76.5% were females, and 23.5% were males. The mean age of female donors was 46.9 ± 10.4 years, and that of male donors was 46.8 ± 12 years. Blood group ‘O’ was the most common blood group in kidney donors in both genders. One hundred and forty-nine (149) donors had a single left renal artery (RA), while one hundred fifty-seven (157) had a single right RA. The venous anatomy revealed that one hundred and seventy-four donors (174) had a single right renal vein (RV). while one hundred and seventy donors (170) had a single left RV. The remaining patients had variations in blood vessels, and none were statistically different between the two genders.

Conclusion: The anatomical variations of the arterial and venous network in the renal donors are not uncommon and should be better documented preoperatively to avoid panic during surgery. The vascular variations documented in our study are well corroborated by those reported in previous studies. Although many factors contribute, females of the family comprise the majority of the VKD pool.