Native renal function after combined liver-kidney transplant for type 1 hepatorenal syndrome: Initial report on the use of postoperative Technetium-99 m-mercaptoacetyltriglycine scans

Type 1 hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is characterized by rapid deterioration of renal function. We sought to assess native kidney function after combined kidney-liver transplant (CLKTx) performed for type 1 HRS. We performed a retrospective, cross-sectional, single-center study. All patients with Type 1 HRS who received a CLKTx at the University of California, San Francisco from 1997 to 2007 were screened for enrollment. Patients with a baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥30 ml/min/1.73 m² were eligible. Twenty-three patients were identified and consented to receive a Technetium-99 m-mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3) nuclear scan to measure the native kidney contribution to overall renal function. Only 4 of the 23 subjects (17.4%) demonstrated native renal function that consisted of a contribution ≥50% of total renal function. Several factors and comorbidities such as age, gender, race, duration of HRS, need for and duration of renal replacement therapy, need for pressors, urine sodium, proteinuria, and use of octreotide/midodrine were analyzed and not found to be significant in predicting native renal function. The assessment of post-transplant native renal function following CLKTx may allow for improved accuracy in identifying the patients in need of CLKTx, and thus allow for greater optimization of dual-organ allocation strategies in patients with concomitant liver and renal failure.