Kidney Transplantation: What’s Hot and What’s New—2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

The development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and its progression to the terminal stage still represent a significant cause of reduced quality of life and premature mortality. CKD is an invalidating disease, and the standard in medical care involves aggressive monitoring for signs of disease progression and early referral to specialists for renal replacement therapy such as dialysis and kidney transplant. The number of kidney transplants performed has increased in many countries, their outcomes have improved substantially in recent years, and tireless efforts have been made to reduce the waiting time for a kidney transplant and minimize the rate of graft loss, improving patient survival.

To increase the number of available kidneys and perform more transplantations, several strategies have been developed:

• Living donation promotion;
• Kidney exchange programs (KEPs);
• Desensitization and AB0-incompatible protocols;
• The expansion of the donor pool using extended criteria donors (ECDs) and non-beating heart donors (NHBDs).

Moreover, a deeper understanding of primary non-function (PNF) and delayed graft function (DGF) pathophysiology has been reached. This has led to improvements in the treatment of DGF, the prevention of PNF, and the development of novel tools for the more objective, specific, and accurate assessment of graft quality, such as pulsatile perfusion and graft regeneration, and has shed light on regenerative medicine, which could play a pivotal role in the near future.

Finally, to optimize the results of kidney transplantation, significant enhancements have been introduced in immunosuppression through the use of more specific immunosuppressive strategies tailored both to graft and recipient features.

This Special Issue’s aim is to explore advances in kidney transplantation, focusing on interesting perspectives for both a clinical audience and the wider scientific community.

Dr. Giuseppe Ietto
Dr. Caterina Di Bella
Guest Editors

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