Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Immunosuppression Protocol (immunosuppression + protocol)
Selected AbstractsLong-term outcome of intensive initial immunosuppression protocol in pediatric deceased donor renal transplantationPEDIATRIC TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 1 2010Oyedolamu K. Olaitan Olaitan OK, Zimmermann JA, Shields WP, Rodriguez-Navas G, Awan A, Mohan P, Little DM, Hickey DP. Long-term outcome of intensive initial immunosuppression protocol in pediatric deceased donor renal transplantation. Pediatr Transplantation 2010: 14: 87,92. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Abstract:, To report the long-term outcome of deceased donor kidney transplantation in children with emphasis on the use of an intensive initial immunosuppression protocol using R-ATG as antibody induction. Between January 1991 and December 1997, 82 deceased donor kidney transplantations were performed in 75 pediatric recipients. Mean recipient age at transplantation was 12.9 yr and the mean follow-up period was 12.6 yr. All patients received quadruple immunosuppression with steroid, cyclosporine, azathioprine, and antibody induction using R-ATG-Fresenius®. Actual one, five, and 10 yr patient survival rates were 99%, 97%, and 94%, respectively; only one patient (1.2%) developed PTLD. Actual one, five, and 10 yr overall graft survival rates were 84%, 71%, and 50%, respectively; there were five cases (6%) of graft thrombosis and the actual immunological graft survival rates were 91%, 78%, and 63% at one, five, and 10 yr, respectively. The use of an intensive initial immunosuppression protocol with R-ATG as antibody induction is safe and effective in pediatric recipients of deceased donor kidneys with excellent immunological graft survival without an increase in PTLD or other neoplasms over a minimum 10-yr follow up. [source] Hypertension and ace gene insertion/deletion polymorphism in pediatric renal transplant patientsPEDIATRIC TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 5 2005Erkin Serdaroglu Abstract:, The objective of the present study was to define the risk factors for hypertension and to analyze the influence of insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) on hypertension in pediatric renal transplant recipients. Twenty-six pediatric renal transplant recipients with stable renal function and treated with the same immunosuppression protocol were included in the study. Their mean age was 12.5 ± 3.3 yr and mean time after transplantation was 38.5 ± 39.8 month. Twenty-four hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was performed by SpaceLabs (90207) device. The I/D polymorphism of the ACE was determined by PCR and ACE serum level was analyzed by colorimetric method. Hypertension was present in 15 patients (57.7%) by causal blood pressure measurements and 19 patients (73.1%) by ABPM. Twenty-two patients (84.6%) were found to be non-dipper and eight of them had reverse dipping. Only time after transplantation (38 ± 31 vs. 79 ±49 month, p = 0.016) and cyclosporin A trough plasma levels (206 ±78 vs. 119 ± 83 ng/mL, p = 0.020) influenced the presence of hypertension by multiple logistic regression analysis. The distribution of genotypes were II = 2 (7.7%), ID = 8 (30.8%), DD = 16 (61.5%). There was no effect of ACE gene I/D polymorphism or serum ACE levels on hypertension prevalence and circadian variability of blood pressures. Hypertension was related to the time after transplantation and cyclosporin A levels. The ACE gene I/D polymorphism and serum ACE levels did not influence the blood pressure values or circadian variability of blood pressure among pediatric renal transplant patients. [source] Early Withdrawal of Calcineurin Inhibitors and Everolimus Monotherapy in de novo Liver Transplant Recipients Preserves Renal FunctionAMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 10 2010M. Masetti We designed a randomized trial to assess whether the early withdrawal of cyclosporine (CsA) followed by the initiation of everolimus (Evr) monotherapy in de novo liver transplantation (LT) patients would result in superior renal function compared to a CsA-based immunosuppression protocol. All patients were treated with CsA for the first 10 days and then randomized to receive Evr in combination with CsA up to day 30, then either continued on Evr monotherapy (Evr group) or maintained on CsA with/without mycophenolate mofetil (CsA group) in case of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Seventy-eight patients were randomized (Evr n = 52; CsA n = 26). The 1-year freedom from efficacy failure in Evr group was 75% versus 69.2% in CsA group, p = 0.36. There was no statistically significant difference in patient survival between the two groups. Mean modification of diet in renal disease (MDRD) was significantly better in the Evr group at 12 months (87.7 ± 26.1 vs. 59.9 ± 12.6 mL/min; p < 0.001). The incidence of CKD stage ,3 (estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min) was higher in the CsA group at 1 year (52.2% vs. 15.4%, p = 0.005). The results indicate that early withdrawal of CsA followed by Evr monotherapy in de novo LT patients is associated with an improvement in renal function, with a similar incidence of rejection and major complications. [source] Increased expression of cytotoxic effector molecules: Different interpretations for steroid-based and steroid-free immunosuppressionPEDIATRIC TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 1 2003Thomas Satterwhite Abstract: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) effector molecules have been studied as markers of acute rejection in renal allograft recipients on steroid-based immunosuppression. We hypothesized that basal CTL gene expression may vary with time post-transplantation as well as with different immunosuppression protocols (steroid-based or steroid-free). Variations in CTL gene expression may thus impact on the ability to predict acute allograft rejection. We used the non-invasive method of quantitative competitive-reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (QC-RT-PCR) to quantify the amounts of CTL effector molecules (granulysin, GL; perforin, P; granzyme B, GB) in serial peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) samples from steroid-free and steroid-based adult and pediatric renal allograft recipients. Patients on both protocols were clinically monitored by protocol biopsies at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months post-transplantation and for graft function at 1 yr post-transplantation in a separate clinical study. Steroid-free patients with stable graft function showed an increase in GL, P, and GB gene expression over time post-transplantation with the increase being seen largely by the first post-transplant month. A further increase in GL expression was noted at the end of the first post-transplant year in the absence of acute rejection, whereas GB and P levels were unchanged. At comparative time-points post-transplantation, CTL genes were found to be higher in steroid-free patients with stable graft function, compared to steroid-based recipients with either clinically stable graft function or acute rejection. This study suggests that levels of CTL gene expression, although important in a steroid-based regimen to monitor the risk of acute rejection, may not be similarly applied in patients on steroid-free immunosuppression. The early increase in levels seen in steroid-free patients appears to correlate with the total absence of steroids. As steroid-free patients seem to have a lower incidence of acute rejection and better long-term graft function at 1 yr, the early increase in CTL genes in the absence of acute rejection may suggest an early adaptive immune activation response, promoting early graft acceptance in this protocol. [source] Incidence and Severity of Acute Cellular Rejection in Recipients Undergoing Adult Living Donor or Deceased Donor Liver Transplantation,AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 2 2009A. Shaked Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) may have better immunological outcomes compared to deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT). The aim of this study was to analyze the incidence of acute cellular rejection (ACR) after LDLT and DDLT. Data from the adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (A2ALL) retrospective cohort study on 593 liver transplants done between May 1998 and March 2004 were studied (380 LDLT; 213 DDLT). Median LDLT and DDLT follow-up was 778 and 713 days, respectively. Rates of clinically treated and biopsy-proven ACR were compared. There were 174 (46%) LDLT and 80 (38%) DDLT recipients with ,1 clinically treated episodes of ACR, whereas 103 (27%) LDLT and 58 (27%) DDLT recipients had ,1 biopsy-proven ACR episode. A higher proportion of LDLT recipients had clinically treated ACR (p = 0.052), but this difference was largely attributable to one center. There were similar proportions of biopsy-proven rejection (p = 0.97) and graft loss due to rejection (p = 0.16). Longer cold ischemia time was associated with a higher rate of ACR in both groups despite much shorter median cold ischemia time in LDLT. These data do not show an immunological advantage for LDLT, and therefore do not support the application of unique posttransplant immunosuppression protocols for LDLT recipients. [source] Serum Matrix Metalloprotease-1 and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor,A Predict Cardiac Allograft RejectionAMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 1 2009S. Aharinejad Cardiac allograft rejection is currently diagnosed from endomyocardial biopsies (EMB) that are invasive and impractical to repeat. A serological marker could facilitate rejection monitoring and minimize EMB-associated risks. We investigated the relation of serum matrix metalloprotease (MMP)-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A concentrations to cardiac allograft rejection, using 1176 EMBs and serum samples obtained from 208 recipients. Acute cellular rejection was diagnosed in 186 EMBs. Mean week 1 and week 2 serum MMP-1 concentrations predicted rejection (p = 0.001, AUC = 0.80). At the optimal cut-off level of ,7.5 ng/mL, MMP-1 predicted rejection with 82% sensitivity and 72% specificity. Initial serum MMP-1 <5.3 ng/mL (lowest quartile) was associated with rejection-free outcome in 80% of patients. Both MMP-1 (p < 0.001, AUC = 0.67,0.75) and VEGF-A (p < 0.01, AUC = 0.62,0.67) predicted rejection on the next EMB, while rejection at EMB was identified only by VEGF-A (p < 0.02, AUC = 0.70,0.77). Patients receiving combined cyclosporine-A and everolimus had the lowest serum MMP-1 concentrations. While serum MMP-1 predicts rejection-free outcome and VEGF-A identifies rejection on EMB, both markers predict rejection in follow-up of cardiac transplant recipients. Combination of serum MMP-1 and VEGF-A concentration may be a noninvasive prognostic marker of cardiac allograft rejection, and could have important implications for choice of surveillance and immunosuppression protocols. [source] Factors modifying stress from adverse effects of immunosuppressive medication in kidney transplant recipientsCLINICAL TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 1 2005Jaroslav Rosenberger Abstract:, Introduction:, The adverse effects of immunosuppression appear in the majority of patients with a negative impact on morbidity, mortality and quality of life. The group of adverse symptoms manifested as changes in appearance, mood and energy are often more stressful than serious metabolic changes because of their direct negative influence on patients' well-being. The aim of this study is to explore the adverse symptoms of immunosuppressive medication which are the most stressful for transplanted patients, and which are the modifying factors. Patients and methods:, A total of 157 adult kidney transplant recipients from two transplant centres in Slovakia with a functioning graft transplanted <7 yr ago were examined. Patients participated in an interview focusing on stress from adverse effects, and their education and social support. Medical records were searched for information about immunosuppression protocols, dialysis treatment before transplantation, type of received organ and period after transplantation. The effect of the selected variables on the total score for stress from adverse effects was tested using ANOVA. The effect of the selected factors on stress from each single adverse effect was explored using t -test and ANOVA. Results:, The most stressful symptoms were pain, weakness, weight gain, facial changes, depression and anxiety. The mean value of the total score for stress from adverse effects was 8.03 ± 6.53 (minimum 0, maximum 30, range: 0,64), indicating low stress. Women and patients with lower education significantly more often felt the adverse effects of immunosuppression as stressful (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively). Age, social support, dialysis modality before transplantation, time from transplantation and type of immunosuppressive treatment did not affect the total score for stress from adverse effects. However, variables that were not significant in the overall score reached significance in some symptoms. Conclusions:, Women and patients with lower education significantly more often felt the adverse effects of immunosuppression as stressful; in a more detailed analysis the use of new drugs was connected with less stress in some symptoms. The use of these drugs can improve life quality for transplant recipients, decrease non-compliance, and thus prevent graft loss. [source] | ||||||||||