Lasalete Martins

• MD, PhD
• Nephrologist, MD, PhD at Centro Hospitalar do Porto

Background Obesity has a negative impact in kidney health. However, the hallmarks of kidney dysfunction in bariatric surgery candidates are poorly characterized. To address this knowledge gap, we used a propensity score-matched analysis to compare kidney lesion biomarkers in bariatric surgery candidates and living kidney donors. Methods Bariatric...

A living donor (LD) kidney transplant is the best treatment for kidney failure, but LDs safety is paramount. We sought to evaluate our LDs cohort’s longitudinal changes in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). We retrospectively studied 320 LDs submitted to nephrectomy between 1998 and 2020. The primary outcome was the eGFR change until 15 y...

Background and Aims Given the increasing incidence of posttransplant diabetes and the heightened cardiovascular burden among transplant recipients, the use of SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) in this population is attractive due to their cardiovascular and renoprotective advantages. However, evidence for diabetic kidney transplant recipients (DKTRs) is li...

Simultaneous pancreas‐kidney transplantation (SPKT) is the best treatment for selected individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus and end‐stage renal disease. Despite advances in surgical techniques, donor and recipient selection, and immunosuppressive therapies, SPKT remains a complex procedure with associated surgical complications and adverse con...

Objetivos: A incidência de diabetes pós-transplante e o aumento do risco cardiovascular entre os receptores de transplante estão em ascensão. Os agonistas do receptor de peptídeo semelhante ao glucagon têm o potencial de mitigar os efeitos dos medicamentos imunossupressores, abordando tanto a hiperglicemia quanto o aumento de peso, o que os torna a...

Objetives The incidence of posttransplant diabetes and the elevated cardiovascular (CV) risk among transplant recipients are on the rise. Glucagon-like peptide agonists have the potential to mitigate the effects of immunosuppressive drugs, addressing both hyperglycemia and weight gain. This makes them appealing for use in this population, given the...

A living donor kidney transplant (LDKT) is the best treatment for ESRD. A prediction tool based on clinical and demographic data available pre‐KT was developed in a Norwegian cohort with three different models to predict graft loss, recipient death, and donor candidate's risk of death, the iPREDICTLIVING tool. No external validations are yet availa...

Transplant renal artery stenosis (TRAS) is a well-recognized vascular complication after kidney transplantation, with an incidence ranging from 1% to 23%. TRAS often presents with clinical features such as refractory hypertension, de novo hypertension, allograft dysfunction, and the presence of a bruit over the graft. A rare manifestation of TRAS i...

Introduction Considering the rising occurrence of posttranplant diabetes and the elevated cardiovascular burden among transplant recipients, the utilization of SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) in this group is appealing because of their cardiovascular and renoprotective benefits. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of evidence for diabetic kidney transplant...

Introdução: Considerando o aumento da incidência de diabetes pós-transplante e o elevado impacto cardiovascular entre os receptores de transplantes, este facto faz com que o uso de inibidores de SGLT2 nesse grupo seja atrativo devido aos seus benefícios cardiovasculares e renoprotetores. No entanto, há escassez de evidência nos receptores de transp...

Background The use of kidney donors with hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been arising as a possibility to increase the donor pool. It encompasses both the use of donors with positive and negative viremia, particularly since the advent of direct antiviral agents that produce sustained virologic response. Methodology We conducted a retrospective observat...

Introduction Kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment for end-stage renal disease, but organ scarcity can result in long waiting times. Living-donor kidney transplantation offers an alternative to deceased donation, but HLA or AB0 incompatibility can pose a significant obstacle. This study aimed to show the results achieved by a portuguese...

Introdução: O transplante renal é o tratamento preferencial da doença renal crônica terminal, porém, a escassez de órgãos pode resultar em longos tempos de espera. O transplante renal de doador vivo oferece uma alternativa ao doador cadáver, mas a incompatibilidade HLA ou AB0 pode representar um obstáculo significativo. Este estudo teve como objeti...

Background: The global scarcity of organs for kidney transplants (KTs) has led to the increased acceptance of living donors (LDs) with minor abnormalities to increase the donor pool.. We sought to evaluate the effects of some of these LDs’ clinical characteristics (older age, borderline renal function, hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking, and obesi...

The COVID-19 pandemic increased morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly in the Kidney and Kidney-Pancreas Transplant Recipient (KTR/KPTR) population. Aiming at assessing the absolute and relative excess mortality (EM) in a Portuguese KTR/KPTR cohort, we conducted a retrospective observational study of two KTR/KPTRs cohorts: cohort 1 ( P1 ;...

Common variable immune deficiency (CVID) is a primary immunodeficiency disorder, with hypogammaglobulinemia and increased susceptibility to recurrent infections, autoimmune disorders, granulomatous diseases and malignancy. Among the solid organ transplant (SOT) recipient population, those with primary immunodeficiency disorders under chronic immuno...

Renal artery thrombosis is a devastating complication if not detected early. Cardioembolic disease or surgical and technical complications are frequent causes of renal artery thrombosis. There are some reports of renal artery thrombosis in a renal allograft, but to our knowledge, this is the first case of renal artery thrombosis reported in a kidne...

Background and Aims Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID) is a primary immunodeficiency disorder, where genetic defects are commonly present, with hypogammaglobulinemia (typically IgG) and increased susceptibility to recurrent infections, autoimmune disorders, granulomatous diseases and malignancy. It can also potentially lead to nephropathy, wi...

Background: Living kidney donation (LKD) is a preferred treatment option for end-stage chronic kidney disease, but it can also pose potential risks for the donor, including hypertension and end-stage renal disease. Many donors are women of reproductive age who may have concerns about the effects of donation on future pregnancies. The aim of this s...

Background: Vascular calcification is an ever-more-common finding in protocoled pre-transplant imaging in living kidney donors. We intended to explore whether a connection could be found between the Agatston calcification score, prior to kidney donation, and post-donation renal function. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 156 living ki...

Post-transplant erythrocytosis (PTE) is reported in 8% to 22% of kidney transplant recipients. Few studies have evaluated the prevalence of PTE in simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplantation (SPKT). This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of PTE in a cohort of SPKT and same-donor single kidney transplant patients and find predictive factors fo...

Background: Simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPKT) is the treatment of choice for type 1 diabetes patients with end-stage renal disease. Donor characteristics are determinants of graft and patient survival. We aimed to study the impact of donor age on outcomes in SPKT. Methods: We retrospectively studied 254 patients submitted to SP...

A predictive model to estimate post-donation glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and risk of CKD at 1-year was developed from a Toulouse-Rangueil cohort in 2017 and showed an excellent correlation to the observed 1-year post-donation eGFR. We retrospectively analyzed all living donor kidney transplants performed at a single center from 1998 to 2020....

Introduction: Simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPKT) has demonstrated favorable impact on the progression of chronic complications in type-1 diabetes (T1D) and terminal chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, some CKD mineral and bone disorders (CKD-MBD) may persist, even after transplantation. There are only a few studies addressing t...

Introduction: Living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is accepted as first-line treatment for patients with end-stage kidney disease with advantages over deceased donor kidney transplantation (DDKT). Still, how the known detrimental effect of HLA mismatch (MM) may hamper these advantages remains unsettled. We sought to determine the effect of t...

Purpose: Simultaneous pancreas–kidney transplantation (SPKT) remains the best treatment option in patients with type 1 diabetes and chronic kidney failure. There are only a few studies addressing the potential ischemic deterioration of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) due to blood diverting from the iliac artery to the kidney graft. We aimed to ev...

Pneumocystis jirovecii (PJ) opportunistic infections occur in immunocompromised patients impacting significantly hospitalizations and mortality. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) is universally used as prophylaxis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) and therefore, this infection is rare condition in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipien...

The evaluation of split renal function (SRF) is a critical issue in living kidney donations and can be evaluated using nuclear renography (NR) or computerized tomography (CT), with unclear comparative advantages. We conducted this retrospective study in 193 donors to examine the correlation of SRF assessed by NR and CT volumetry and compared their...

Pneumocystis jirovecii (PJ) opportunistic infections occur in immunocompromised patients impacting significantly hospitalizations and mortality. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) is universally used as prophylaxis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) and therefore, this infection is rare condition in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipien...

Introduction Limited information exists concerning the clinical significance of histologically confirmed antibody-mediated rejection (h-AMR) without detectable circulating donor-specific antibodies (DSA). In this study, we compared the outcomes of patients with h-AMR according to DSA status. Methods A total of 80 kidney transplant (KT) recipients...

Introduction: Kidney transplantation (KT) from living donors has been shown to have multiple benefits compared to those from deceased donors. We sought to compare significant graft outcomes, namely acute rejection (AR), graft function, and survival between transplant recipients who received a kidney from living related donor (LRD) and living unrela...

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate maternal and perinatal outcomes in pregnancies after kidney transplant (KT) and the impact of pregnancy on graft function. Methods A descriptive and retrospective case-control study included 43 pregnancies in women after KT, followed in our institution, from January 1991 to December 2019. The control group i...

Resumo Introdução: Os receptores de transplante renal (TR) apresentam um alto risco para desfechos adversos de infecções, tais como a COVID-19. Métodos: Revisamos retrospectivamente todos os receptores de TR com COVID-19 documentada entre 1º de Março de 2020 e 15 de Março de 2021, e analisamos as características, curso clínico, tratamento e desfech...

Introduction: Kidney transplant (KT) recipients have a high risk for adverse outcomes from infections, such as COVID-19. Methods: We have retrospectively reviewed all KT recipients with documented COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and March 15, 2021, and analyzed patients' characteristics, clinical course, treatment, and outcomes. Results: We id...

Background A living donor (LD) kidney transplant is the best therapeutic option for end-stage kidney disease. Potential donors must undergo multiple analyses and the rates of live donation can be as low as 8% to 18%. Here, we report on the live kidney donor program in our unit with emphasis on the reasons why potential donors do not proceed to dona...

Older to older living kidney transplantation is an acceptable alternative to avoid dialysis, improve quality of life and maintain favorable long-term outcomes of patients with end-stage kidney disease. However, the management of these patients is complex and the acceptance of older donors and recipients to kidney transplantation remains controversi...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Kidney transplantation (KT) improves survival and quality of life of patients with end-stage renal disease. However, there is still an unbalance between supply and demand for kidneys. To increase the number of available grafts and reduce the waiting list for transplantation, recruitment of older living donors has expanded. This...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is the best treatment for end-stage kidney disease and is associated with better recipient outcomes than deceased donor transplantation. Living kidney donors (LKD), however, seem to be at increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD), which mandates a careful selection to reduce the ch...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) provides the best outcomes of all renal replacement modalities, including survival and quality of life. Studies on the association between pre-donation estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and graft outcomes have yielded inconsistent results. Two eGFR thresholds are generally use...

If managing COVID-19 alone was a major challenge, one can expect an even greater challenge in certain scenarios, such as patients with kidney disease - including kidney transplant recipients (KT) – or pregnant women. When things could not get any worse, we just met the peculiar art of overcomplicating things: pregnant kidney and simultaneous kidney...

The first haemodialysis treatment was performed in Lisbon, in 1958, with a Kolff rotating apparatus in a woman with acute renal failure following a transfusion haemolysis. Sixty years later, Portuguese end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are treated in 124 haemodialysis units, 25 peritoneal dialysis units and 9 renal transplant centres with a g...

Background: The reduced access of highly-sensitized (HS) patients to kidney transplantation (KTx) is one of the major challenges for transplant community. Therefore, the aim of our study was to estimate the impact of three different vPRA calculations, assessed traditionally and using eplet-based analysis, in donor offers. Methods: At 01-01-2020, 15...

HLA donor-specific antibodies developed de novo after transplant remain a major cause of chronic allograft dysfunction. Our study main purpose was to determine whether HLA MM, assessed traditionally and by HLA total and AbVer eplet mismatch load (EptMM and EpvMM) assessed with HLAMatchMaker, had impact on dnDSA development after living donor kidney...

Kidney volume has been proven to be a surrogate marker of nephron mass and renal function. We studied 190 donor and recipient pairs undergoing living donor kidney transplantation at our institution during 9 years. Different metrics of donor kidney volume (DKV) were explored: alone or indexed to recipient's anthropometry, as body surface area (BSA)....

From December 2019 to March 2020, China was the epicenter of the SARS‐CoV‐2 infection pandemic, but from that moment on, Europe surpassed China in the number of new cases and deaths related to this novel viral respiratory infection. The emergence of this world pandemic is particularly important for solid organ transplant recipients, who might have...

Background and Aims ABO incompatiblitity was considered a barrier to kidney transplant. However, the shortage of available organs for transplantation and the excellent long term results further establish ABO-incompatible (ABOi) as a safe and effective therapeutic strategy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the outcomes of ABOi transplant...

Background and Aims Kidney volume has been proven to be a surrogate marker of nephron mass and renal function in living donors. Although many studies correlate the kidney mass with renal donors’ function after donation, few studies have compared the donated kidney mass with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in the kidneýs recipients. The...

The donors’ estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) after living nephrectomy has been a concern, particularly in donors with smaller kindeys. Therefore, we developed this retrospective observational study in 195 donors to determine the ability remaining kidney volume indexed to weight (RKV/W) to predict eGFR at 1‐year through multivariate linea...

Background In simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPKT), persistence or recurrence of pancreatic autoantibodies (PAs) has been associated with pancreas graft (PG) autoimmune-driven injury. Our aim was to analyze the impact of PAs on PG survival. Methods Between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2017, we studied 139 patients with post-SPK...

Background: HLA mismatching is a well known risk factor for worst outcomes in kidney transplantation. Methods: In the present study, HLA antigen and eplet mismatches were determined in 151 living donor-recipient pairs transplanted between 2007 and 2014 and rejection episodes and graft survival were evaluated. Results: We found that high HLA-II...

Posttransplant Anemia (PTA) is a common finding, often multifactorial. Some atypical etiologies can be masked by the usual causes, resulting in non-solving anemia and compromising graft viability and host recovery. An immune-mediated hemolysis can develop in solid or bone marrow graft recipients in the presence of ABO-minor mismatch or, more rarely...

The passenger lymphocyte syndrome may cause hemolytic anemia after bone marrow and solid organ transplantation when there is minor erythrocyte antigen incompatibility in the donor/recipient pair. Anemia is usually self-limiting, frequently related to ABO antibodies and rarely to Rh mismatches. We report a rare case of passenger B lymphocyte syndrom...

Background Superior patient and graft survival rates have been attributed to living donor kidney transplant (LDKT) when compared to deceased donor transplantation. The aim of this study was to assess graft survival in a population of LDKT in the last 14 years and the potential impact of some clinical features. Methods A retrospective observational...

Background Donor living kidney transplantation (KT) is an available optionfor end‐stage renal disease, improving survival and quality of life when compared with other treatments. ABO incompatibility was considered an important barrier for long but, with the increasing organ shortage and due to improvement of immunosuppression protocols, ABO‐incompa...

The occurrence of ascites after Renal Transplant (RT) is infrequent, and may be a consequence of surgical or medical complications. Case report: 61 year-old, male, history of arterial hypertension, tongue carcinoma and alcoholic habits 12-20g/day. He had chronic kidney disease secondary to autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, without hepat...

Tubulointersticial nephritis and uveitis syndrome is an idiopathic and rare cause of acute kidney injury that should not overlooked, because it usually requires specific therapeutic interventions. We report two distinct cases: a young and an elder female. Both cases presented with unspecific constitutional symptoms but had different onset of renal...

Background: Antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) remains associated with reduced kidney graft survival and no clear prognostic marker is available. Methods: We investigated whether donor-specific antibodies (DSA) ability to bind C1q in comparison with ABMR C4d status, both indirect signs of complement activation, improve risk stratification at tim...

Chronic-active antibody-mediated rejection (CAABMR) is associated with poor kidney graft survival and has no clear effective treatment. Forty-one cases of CAABMR were detected in indication graft biopsies and evaluated according to current Banff classification. We investigated the impact of concurrent donor-specific antibodies (DSA) and their chara...

Monoclonal gammopathies are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by clonal proliferation of immunoglobulin produced by B-lymphocytes or plasma cell clone. The term monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance (MGRS) was introduced to distinguish monoclonal gammopathies that result in the development of kidney disease from those that are...

Aim: Both donor-specific antibodies (DSA) and anti-angiotensin II type 1 receptor antibodies (AT1R-abs) have been associated with poor graft outcomes after kidney transplantation (KT). We aimed to understand the impact of pretransplant AT1R-abs with or without concomitant DSA on KT outcomes. Methods: Seventy-six patients transplanted in 2009 wer...

The role of de novo donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies (dnDSA) within the pathways leading to graft failure remains not fully understood. We investigated 56 patients who were transplanted between 2002-2014 with kidney graft failure (cases), for a possible association of development of dnDSA with graft failure. The 56 patients with failed transplant...

The detrimental impact of preformed anti-HLA donor-specific antibodies (DSA) is well defined, contrarily to non-donor-specific antibodies (NDSA). We sought to evaluate their clinical impact in a cohort of 724 kidney graft recipients in whom anti-HLA antibodies were thoroughly screened and identified in pre-transplant sera by solid-phase assays. NDS...

Patients who are candidates for a second kidney transplant (SKT) frequently have a higher level of panel reactive antibodies (PRA). We assessed the allosensitisation change after a first graft failure (GF), its predictors and impact on retransplantat outcomes. We retrospectively selected 140 adult patients who received a SKT. Recipient and donor ch...

Patients who are candidates for a second kidney transplant (SKT) frequently have a higher level of panel reactive antibodies (PRA). We assessed the allosensitisation change after a first graft failure (GF), its predictors and impact on retransplantat outcomes. We retrospectively selected 140 adult patients who received a SKT. Recipient and donor ch...

The clinical spectrum of diseases associated with monoclonal gammopathies is wide and they are most commonly the consequence of renal deposition of monoclonal immunoglobulin or its components. The differential diagnosis is difficult and renal biopsy is essential. To distinguish many of these pathologies is necessary to use techniques that are not a...

Background: Porto’s Hospital Centre is one of the most active Portuguese hospitals in renal transplantation (performed since 1983). Although increasingly rare, opportunistic infections in transplanted patients are associated with high mortality rate in kidney transplantation and remain a major diagnostic challenge. Methods: We investigated 2041 cas...

AIM To analyze the clinical impact of preformed antiHLA-Cw vs antiHLA-A and/or -B donor-specific antibodies (DSA) in kidney transplantation. METHODS Retrospective study, comparing 12 patients transplanted with DSA exclusively antiHLA-Cw with 23 patients with preformed DSA antiHLA-A and/or B. RESULTS One year after transplantation there were no di...

Detrimental impact of preformed donor-specific antibodies (DSA) against human leukocyte antigens on outcomes after kidney transplantation remains controversial. We aimed to study DSA characteristics (strength and C1q-binding) that might distinguish harmful DSA from clinically irrelevant ones. We retrospectively studied 60 kidney-transplanted patien...

The impact of patient's biological differences in waiting time for kidney transplantation is well known and has been a subject of extensive debate and struggle in transplantation community. Our purpose was to evaluate patient's access to kidney transplantation in Portugal, regarding their degree of allosensitization and blood type. A retrospective...

Introduction: Immunosuppression has a pivotal role in kidney transplantation. The new prolonged-release formulation of tacrolimus was developed to provide a more convenient once-daily dosing to improve patient adherence. Methods: We selected 60 stable kidney transplant recipients who underwent tacrolimus conversion in our unit. Conversion was ma...

Introduction: Malignancy management in renal transplant recipients is becoming a major factor affecting long- -term patient survival. Thus, we intended to evaluate both incidence and prognosis of malignant diseases following renal transplantation at a single centre in Portugal. Methods: We studied retrospectively the 2,358 patients who underwent ki...

Over the last 15 years, better immunosuppressive drugs have decreased acute rejection rates in kidney transplantation but have also led to an increase in the incidence and impact of BK virus nephropathy. The authors report the case of a 62--year-old man submitted to a renal transplant of a deceased donor with an immunosuppression regimen free of ra...

Introduction: Kidney transplant improves survival even in highly-sensitized (HS) patients. To overcome their disadvantage in accessing transplantation, those with high Complement Dependent Cytotoxic PRA (CDC-PRA) receive additional points during allocation. Whether this strategy reaches all HS patients and how long they wait for a transplant is lar...

“Changes in bone mineral density following long-term simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation. Rocha A, Martins LS, Malheiro J, Dores J, Santos C, Henriques C. J Bone Miner Metab. 2016 Mar;34(2):209-15. doi: 10.1007/s00774-015-0657-3.