BACKGROUND: Implantation of a kidney with a short renal vein is technically more challenging and therefore prone for technique-related complications. It remains unclear whether pre-operative computed tomography angiography (CTA), to assess vascular anatomy of the donor kidney, can be used to predict renal vein length.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Right and left renal vein lengths of 100 consecutive kidney donors were measured in an oblique-coronal plane multiplanar reconstruction image of 100 consecutive kidney donors in whom ex vivo vein length was measured after recovery. In a second retrospective cohort of 100 consecutive kidney donors donating a right kidney, preoperative CTA vein length measurements were correlated to anastomosis time and early graft outcome.

RESULTS: Left and right renal vein lengths, measured on CTA, were 43.2 mm and 30.0 mm, respectively. No correlation was found between CTA and ex vivo measurements for the left renal vein (p=.610), whereas a significant correlation was found for the right renal vein (p=.021). In the retrospective cohort, right renal vein length was significantly correlated with the anastomosis time but not with early graft outcome.

CONCLUSIONS: The length of the right, but not the left, renal vein can be predicted by preoperative CTA, but this does not hold true for the left renal vein.

Keywords: Kidney Transplantation, Living Donors, Renal Veins, Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed