Lower urinary tract symptoms in kidney transplantation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Study of complications predictable by pre-transplant lower urinary tract symptoms (SCOPE study)
IRAS ID
367244
Contact name
David Kingsmore
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Glasgow
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN31508938
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The optimal treatment for patients with kidney failure is a kidney transplant. However, the success of a transplant may be limited due to problems with urinary complications and how well the bladder works. It may not be recognised that a patient has a bladder problem before a transplant especially if the patient no longer passes urine. This can lead to problems after the transplant, resulting in complications such as urinary retention, repeated urinary tract infections and even poor kidney function. However, although this is a well-recognised problem amongst kidney transplant surgeons to be a significant problem, there are almost no studies that have looked into this. Currently there is no standardised work-up of the bladder and urinary tract prior to kidney transplant, and efforts are mainly reactive in treating the problems that arise. Often these treatments performed for complications are less successful and more costly to patients and the service than what could have been done ahead of time.
This study aims to determine how often patients have undiagnosed bladder problems before renal transplantation and determine if these issues make complications more likely in the year following transplantation.
We will approach everyone having a kidney transplant in Glasgow within a two-year period: both when they join the transplant waiting list and when they receive a transplant. We will follow patients up at 6 weeks and 1 year after transplantation, taking measures of bladder function from clinical history, dedicated questionnaires and simple studies of urine flow/ bladder function. We hope to recruit 100 patients on day of transplant and 100 patients at transplant assessment.
We hope that results from this study might better inform how and why a patient’s lower urinary tract should be assessed before transplant. In doing so, we hope to reduce complications and improve outcomes for after transplant.
REC name
South Central - Oxford A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/SC/0213
Date of REC Opinion
17 Jun 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion