Renal transplantation across ABO barrier.

In India, patients without a compatible blood group donor are usually excluded from renal transplantation. For young patients, it is a difficult therapeutic choice to stay on long-term dialysis. We describe the case of a 19-year-old male patient who had blood group O +ve and had no compatible donor in the family. His mother was B +ve and was willing to donate. The patient had an initial anti-B antibody titer of 1:512 and underwent antibody depletion with plasmapheresis (11 sessions) and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) 100 mg/kg after every plasmapheresis. He also received rituximab 500 mg for 3 days prior to transplant and was induced with basiliximab. At the time of transplant, his anti-B titers were <1:8. Post-operatively, he required four sessions of plasmapheresis and IVIG as his titers rebounded to 1:64. The titers then spontaneously subsided to <1:16 and have stayed at the same level for 6 months post-transplant. The patient continues to have normal renal function with a creatinine of 1.4 mg/dl% and has had no episodes of rejection.

Comparison of azathioprine with mycophenolate mofetil in a living donor kidney transplant programme.

There are conflicting data regarding the comparative efficacy of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) versus azathioprine (AZA) as maintenance immunosuppressive agent in kidney transplantation. The data are even less in combination with tacrolimus (TAC) in living donor kidney transplantation. A total of 205 living donor kidney transplants, on TAC-based triple drug immunosuppression were included in the study. A total of 113 patients received AZA and rest 92 were on MMF based protocol. TAC levels were monitored and graft biopsy was done whenever rejection was suspected. The outcomes were evaluated in terms acute rejection (AR) episodes at 1 year, infections, renal function, graft loss, and death between two groups. The study group comprised 163 males (79.5%) and 42 (20.5%) females. The mean age of patients was 42.4±11.8 years in the AZA group and 39.4 ±13.4 in the MMF group (P=0.09). The mean duration of follow-up was 491.7±240.7 and 478.8±334.4 days respectively in the AZA and MMF groups (P=0.75). Thirty-seven of 92 (40.2%) patients in the MMF group and 70/113 (61.9%) patients in the AZA group received IL-2 RAb induction (P=0.002). 32 patients (15.6 %) developed AR within a year. The incidence of AR was similar in patients who received MMF (12/92, 13%) and those who received AZA (20/113, 17.5%), (P=0.36). There was no difference in the incidence of AR in the subgroup of patients who received IL-2 RAb compared to those who did not receive induction in the two groups (5/37 vs. 7/55 in the MMF group and 10/70 vs. 10/43 in the AZA group, P=0.72). The incidence of infections was similar in the two groups (19/92, 20.6% vs. 25/113, 22.1%, P=0.79). Three patients developed CMV disease, of which two were in the MMF group. Graft loss occurred in 7/205 (3.4%) and death in 8/205 (3.9%) patients. Six of eight patients who died had functioning grafts. The rate of graft loss (3/92 vs. 4/113, P=0.97) and death (5/92 vs. 3/113, P=0.27) was similar in two groups. The overall patient survival was 94.5% and death censored graft survival was 97.4%. Cost comparison suggests AZA to be 6-10 times cheaper than MMF. This study suggests that, in tacrolimus-based immunosuppression, azathioprine may be as good as MMF as maintenance immunosuppressive drug in living donor kidney transplantation. It is also a more cost-effective immunosuppression.

Pulse cyclophosphamide therapy in frequently relapsing nephrotic syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The treatment of frequently relapsing (FR) and steroid-dependent (SD) idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS) with oral cyclophosphamide (OCP) poses problems of compliance, side-effects and infections. METHODS: We prospectively evaluated the usefulness of intravenous cyclophosphamide (IVCP) in children with steroid sensitive INS who were frequent relapsers or steroid dependent. Fifty-one children were included in the study of whom 22 were FR and 29 were SD. IVCP was administered in a dose of 500 mg/m(2)/month for 6 months after achieving a steroid-induced remission. The response to IVCP was evaluated in terms of remission, change in the steroid response status of the patient, duration of remission (i.e. proteinuria-free days), side effects and compliance with therapy. RESULTS: The proteinuria-free days (mean 19.9+/-3.5 before IVCP therapy vs 1256+/-167 days after IVCP therapy) (P<0.00001), and serum albumin levels (23+/-1.6 g/l before IVCP therapy vs 34+/-2 g/l after IVCP therapy) (P<0.001) were significantly higher following IVCP therapy. The cumulative remission rate in the study group was 49% at 5 years and was comparable to that achieved with oral cyclophosphamide at a 40% lower cumulative dose. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that IVCP is a safe and effective therapeutic modality in children with INS who are FR and SD. Its efficacy is comparable to the results obtained with oral cyclophosphamide based on historical comparisons with previous studies.