Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Meta-Anal. Mar 2, 2023; 11(3): 55-67
Published online Mar 2, 2023. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v11.i3.55
Infertility, pregnancy and breastfeeding in kidney transplantation recipients: Key issues
Mohamad Habli, Dawlat Belal, Ajay Sharma, Ahmed Halawa
Mohamad Habli, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Kingdom Hospital, Riyadh 11564, Saudi Arabia
Dawlat Belal, Kasr El-Ainy School of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt
Ajay Sharma, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool L7 8YE, United Kingdom
Ahmed Halawa, Department of Transplantation, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Sheffield S10 2JF, United Kingdom
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ahmed Halawa, FRCS, FRCS (Gen Surg), MSc, Associate Professor, Department of Transplantation, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Glossop Road, B6069, Sheffield S10 2JF, United Kingdom. ahmed.halawa@worldkidneyacademy.org
Received: December 31, 2022
Peer-review started: December 31, 2022
First decision: January 20, 2023
Revised: January 22, 2023
Accepted: February 13, 2023
Article in press: February 13, 2023
Published online: March 2, 2023
Processing time: 59 Days and 20 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major cause of infertility in both sexes. Multiple factors amplify infertility in CKD patients. Kidney transplantation can restore fertility in men and women. Menses will return in the majority of females after kidney transplantation. This improvement increases the risk of accidental pregnancy, so contraception should be discussed in advance. Kidney transplant recipients utilize several contraceptives to plan pregnancy. Preference and tolerability determine contraception choice. If pregnancy occurs, transplanted women experience the same physiologic changes as pregnant women with native kidneys. During pregnancy, immunosuppressive drugs can cause consequences. Breastfeeding kidney transplant recipients should discuss immunosuppressive and other medicines.