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The complications from kidney donation can be divided into those arising immediately from operation and whose which may emerge many years after the operation. The perioperative mortality rate for kidney donors is estimated to be 0.03%.10 Approximately 20 deaths have been reported after living allograft donation over 35 years.11 These data included donations made in the early years of transplantation; it is likely that perioperative mortality has since declined. Apart from the risk of mortality, Major complication of nephrectomy are very rare around 0.2% while minor complications occurs around 8% which included wound infection, pneumothorax atelactasis, pneumonia, urinary tract infection and deep vein thrombosis with or without pulmonary embolism.
The long-term risk can be assessed precisely because of the careful follow-up on thousands of renal donors and extensive information available from other unilaterally nephrectomized patients. Survival studies indicated that the 5 year life- expectancy of a unilaterally nephrectomized 35 year old male donor is 99.1% compared with 99.3% normal expectation.This has been compared with the risk incurred in driving a car 16 miles every working day. In Swedish experience 85% of donors were alive after 20 years of follow up where as the expected survival rate was 66%, suggesting donor survival is even better than that of the general population.
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