Predicting outcomes after kidney transplantation: Can Pareto’s rules help us to do so?

Kidney transplantation is the best option for kidney replacement therapy,even considering that most of the times the grafts do not survive as long as their recipients.In the Khalil et al's experience,published in this issue of the Journal,they analyze their second kidney graft survival and describe those significant predictors of early loss.This editorial comments on the results and put in perspective that most of the times,long-term graft survival could be inadvertently jeopardized if the immunosuppressive therapy is reduced or withdrawn for any reason,and that it could happen frequently if the transplant physician intends to innovate with the clinical care without proper evidence-based data.

Antibody induction therapy in adult kidney transplantation: A controversy continues

Antibody induction therapy is frequently used as an adjunct to the maintenance immunosuppression in adult kidney transplant recipients. Published data support antibody induction in patients with immunologic risk to reduce the incidence of acute rejection(AR) and graft loss from rejection. However, the choice of antibody remains controversial as the clinical studies were carried out on patients of different immunologic risk and in the context of varying maintenance regimens. Antibody selection should be guided by a comprehensive assessment of immunologic risk, patient comorbidities, financial burden as well as the maintenance immunosuppressives. Lymphocyte-depleting antibody(thymoglobulin, ATGAM or alemtuzumab) is usually recommended for those with high risk of rejection, although it increases the risk of infection and malignancy. For low risk patients, interleukin-2 receptor antibody(basiliximab or daclizumab) reduces the incidence of AR without much adverse effects, making its balance favorable in mostpatients. It should also be used in the high risk patients with other medical comorbidities that preclude usage of lymphocyte-depleting antibody safely. There are many patients with very low risk, who may be induced with intravenous steroids without any antibody, as long as combined potent immunosuppressives are kept as maintenance. In these patients, benefits with antibody induction may be too small to outweigh its adverse effects and financial cost. Rituximab can be used in desensitization protocols for ABO and/or HLA incompatible transplants. There are emerging data suggesting that alemtuzumab induction be more successful than other antibody for promoting less intensive maintenance protocols, such as steroid withdrawal, tacrolimus monotherapy or lower doses of tacrolimus and mycophenolic acid. However, the long-term efficacy and safety of these unconventional strategies remains unknown.

Combined liver and kidney transplantation in children and long-term outcome

Combined liver-kidney transplantation(CLKT)is a rarely performed complex surgical procedure in children and involves transplantation of kidney and either whole or part of liver donated by the same individual(usually a cadaver)to the same recipient during a single surgical procedure.Most common indications for CLKT in children are autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease and primary hyperoxaluria type 1.Atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome,methylmalonic academia,and conditions where liver and renal failure co-exists may be indications for CLKT.CLKT is often preferred over sequential liver-kidney transplantation due to immunoprotective effects of transplanted liver on renal allograft;however,liver survival has no significant impact.Since CLKT is a major surgical procedure which involves multiple and complex anastomosis surgeries,acute complications are not uncommon.Bleeding,thrombosis,haemodynamic instability,infections,acute cellular rejections,renal and liver dysfunction are acute complications.The long-term outlook is promising with over 80%5-year survival rates among those children who survive the initial six-month postoperative period.

Impact of acute rejection episodes on long-term renal allograft survival

Objective To assess the impact of the number, and time of acute rejection (AR) and outcome of anti-rejection therapy on the long-term survival of renal allografts and the relative risk factors.Methods The Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test were used to calculate the survival rates of patients and grafts in no acute rejection group (NAR, 895 patients), 1 rejection episode group (1AR, 183), 2 and more than 2 rejection episodes group (2AR, 17), acute rejection group [ AR (1 AR + 2AR), 200], early acute rejection group (within 90 days after transplantation, EAR, 125), late acute rejection group (91 days later, LAR, 58), completely AR reversed group (CAR, 105), and incompletely AR reversed group (IAR, 68), The relative risk factors were analyzed by the Cox proportional hazards regression.Results The 5- and 10-year survival rates of renal allografts were 75. 4% and 17.1% in AR and 93. 2% and 86. 5% in the NAR group ( P<0. 0001). The long-term graft survival was much lower in the 2AR group than in the NAR or 1 AR groups ( P <0. 0001 and P = 0. 002, respectively). It was similar in either the NAR or CAR groups ( P = 0. 31), but it was significantly lower ( P<0. 0001) in the IAR group. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that the outcome of anti-rejection therapy is an important risk factor affecting the long-term survival of allografts.Conclusions AR is significantly associated with poor long-term survival of renal allografts. But the long-term graft survival of patients with one acute rejection but completely reversed is not significantly different from that of patients without acute rejection.

肾移植治疗常染色体显性遗传性多囊肾病患者的临床效果分析(附43例报告)

目的探讨肾移植治疗常染色体显性遗传性多囊肾病(多囊肾)患者的疗效。方法多囊肾患者43例(多囊肾组),在不切除原双侧肾脏的前提下,进行肾移植,以同期50例原发病为非多囊肾的肾移植患者作为对照组,进行随访研究。比较两组的术后1、3、5年人、肾存活率及排斥反应发生情况,通过肾脏B超检查多囊肾组患者术前与术后移植肾的体积变化,记录多囊肾组的并发症发生情况。结果多囊肾组肾移植术后1、3、5年人存活率分别为95.3%、90.6%、90.6%,术后1、3、5年肾存活率分别为95.3%、88.3%、83.7%。对照组相应为96.0%、92.0%、90.0%,94.0%、92.0%、88.0%,两组比较差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。两组的急性排斥反应发生率比较差异亦无统计学意义(P>0.05)。多囊肾组术后3～6个月原肾明显缩小,1年后体积基本稳定,跟踪观察1～15年肾脏体积变化不明显。移植后血尿逐渐减轻,7～10d后消失。12例在移植后5～10周反复出现肉眼血尿,均经抗感染治疗后消失。多囊肾患者移植后仍需要应用药物控制血压。多囊肾组尿路感染发生率高达40%。32例多囊肾合并多囊肝,术后发生肝功能损害7例。结论多囊肾患者采用不切除原肾的肾移植效果满意,移植后应严密观察患者移植物肾功能、血尿和感染情况,及时对症处理。