9 ms·

Also only a lay-person, but my thinking is that since the spleen is similar in function to the kidney, the "splenetic tissue" that remained provided a satisfact

Also only a lay-person, but my thinking is that since the spleen is similar in function to the kidney, the "splenetic tissue" that remained provided a satisfactory way to "plug" the new kidney into the circulatory system, which would otherwise be far more complex without detaching an existing kidney too. edit: the Italian news story linked elsewhere on this page does indeed provide more info, and talks about unsuccessful kidney transplants due to "vascular malformation". So yeah, sounds like this was an alternative way to tap into the circulatory system.

pygy_ 10y ago
The spleen is a lymphatic organ (full of white blood cells), the kidney is a mechanical filter coupled with molecular transport to pick back the good stuff and the water from the filtrated serum. Beside being solid organs with a roundish shape, they have nothing in common. Kidneys are usually grafted in the pelvis, using IIRC the iliac vessels, because it is more convenient and allows to keep the existing kidneys that may have some residual function. Maybe that kid had malformed iliac vessels as well...