The outcome of kidney transplantation from HBsAg-positive donors

There is a severe shortage of organ donors for kidney transplantation in Taiwan, and every possible source of potential organ donors has been sought. There is a high incidence of HBsAg carriers in the general population and in patients waiting for kidney transplantation in Taiwan. We performed 19 kidney transplantations with HBsAg-positive kidneys to HBsAg-positive recipients. Compared with 44 other HBsAg-positive recipients who received HBsAg-negative kidneys, there were no differences in patient and graft survivals or incidence of hepatic dysfunction after an average follow-up of 63.6 ± 31.8 months. Our preliminary results seem encouraging. This topic deserves further investigation.