Kidney Transplantation Outcomes in Temporarily Protected Syrian Patients With End-Stage Renal Failure in Turkey

Abstract

Background: Approximately 6.3 million Syrian people migrated to other countries due to war since 2011. There are more than 3.5 million Syrian people living in Turkey under temporary protection. Syrian people receive free health care in Turkey, including kidney transplantation. Our institution started a kidney transplantation program about 3 years ago. It is the first institution performing living, related kidney transplantation for Syrian patients with end-stage renal failure. Methods: All living, related kidney transplantations to Turkish and Syrian patients from the beginning of our transplantation program until September 2018 were enrolled in this study. Donor and recipient characteristics, induction and maintenance immunosuppression, length of hospital stay, creatinine values at first week and first month, treatment incompatibility, and graft survival were evaluated. Results: Of the 25 living, related kidney transplantations 20% were Syrian. Three of 5 Syrian recipients were in the pediatric age group. None of the Syrian transplantations were preemptive, while half of the Turkish transplantations were preemptive (P = .005). Immunosuppression protocols, creatinine values, length of hospital stay, and graft survival rates were similar between groups. None of the Syrian recipients had treatment incompatibility (0%), unlike the Turkish recipients (15%). Conclusion: Outcomes of kidney transplantation for Syrian recipients are similar to those of Turkish recipients. Having this no-cost facility is great for Syrian kidney failure patients. The number of transplantations for Syrian patients under temporary protection in Turkey is expected to increase in the future, with these favorable results and easy to access, free health care facilities. © 2019 Elsevier Inc.