Renal transplantation: technical aspects, diagnosis and management of early and late urological complications.

Renal transplantation represents actually the most effective therapy in patients with end-stage renal failure as it is cost effective, allows for a normal life style and reduces the risk of mortality from dialysis related complications. Renal transplantation can be classified in deceased- donor or living-donor transplantation, depending on the source of the donor organ. The short-term results of transplants with kidneys from donors over 65 years old are almost similar to those with younger organs, but in these patients it is mandatory to reduce cold ischemia time. In the last years, the demand for kidney transplantation has increased dramatically, which has been associated with an increase in living-donor organ procurement, which presents several advantages. Moreover, new operative techniques have been recently developed in order to improve surgical outcomes and graft survival and to reduce the complications' rate after renal transplantation. The purpose of the present review is to evaluate the published literature regarding the technical aspects and the urological complications associated with renal transplantation.