Adherence to Medical Appointments Among Living Kidney Donors After Donation Under a Monitored Approach and Long-term Clinical Outcomes: A Brazilian Single-center Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: There is little information about living donor long-term follow-up among Brazilian living donors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the main outcomes among living donors and to measure their adherence to regular medical appointments. METHODS: This is a Brazilian single-center cohort study that included 397 living donors with 87.1 months of follow-up and measured adherence to clinical appointments. Before 2010, the appointments were scheduled only spontaneously; after that an approach was structured to check the returns of donors, who were monitored actively. We also evaluated long-term outcomes such as survival and chronic kidney disease development and, secondarily, the incidences of hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), and dyslipidemia after donation. RESULTS: The donors' adherence to annual clinical appointments was 75.8% (54.7% of them presenting annual regularity). Before 2010 the adherence was lower than 40%; 10-year cumulative incidences of hypertension, DM, and dyslipidemia were 20.4%, 5.7%, and 23.5%, respectively. The crude mortality was 1% and 10-year donor survival was 98.5%. The incidence of chronic kidney disease 5 years after donation was 19%, with 16.4% of patients staged in 3a and 2.6% in 3b. CONCLUSION: A structured approach to check donor returns to long-term clinical appointments has doubled the adherence to visits returns (compared to historical data). We identified lower incidence of arterial hypertension and DM among donors as compared with the incidence of arterial hypertension and DM in the Brazilian general population, but the 5-year chronic kidney disease incidence was considered high, taking into consideration data that have been published in the last years.

Renal transplantation in human immunodeficiency virus-infected recipients: a case-control study from the Brazilian experience.

BACKGROUND: Highly active antiretroviral therapy has turned human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with end-stage renal disease into suitable candidates for renal transplantation. We present the Brazilian experience with kidney transplantation in HIV-infected recipients observed in a multicenter study. METHODS: HIV-infected kidney transplant recipients and matched controls were evaluated for the incidence of delayed graft function (DGF), acute rejection (AR), infections, graft function, and survival of patients and renal grafts. RESULTS: Fifty-three HIV-infected recipients and 106 controls were enrolled. Baseline characteristics were similar, but a higher frequency of pre-transplant positivity for hepatitis C virus and cytomegalovirus infections was found in the HIV group. Immunosuppressive regimens did not differ, but a trend was observed toward lower use of anti-thymocyte globulin in the group of HIV-infected recipients (P = 0.079). The HIV-positive recipient group presented a higher incidence of treated AR (P = 0.036) and DGF (P = 0.044). Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration estimated that glomerular filtration rate was similar at 6 months (P = 0.374) and at 12 months (P = 0.957). The median number of infections per patient was higher in the HIV-infected group (P = 0.018). The 1-year patient survival (P < 0.001) and graft survival (P = 0.004) were lower, but acceptable, in the group of HIV-infected patients. CONCLUSIONS: In the Brazilian experience, despite somewhat inferior outcomes, kidney transplantation is an adequate therapy for selected HIV-infected recipients.

Comparison of long-term effect of thymoglobulin treatment in patients with a high risk of delayed graft function.

BACKGROUND: T-lymphocyte depletion is a strategy to reverse the impact of ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) in progression to chronic allograft dysfunction, especially among patients at high risk for delayed graft function (DGF). METHODS: The present work assessed the effect of thymoglobulin among a population with a high incidence of DGF. We analyzed 209 transplanted patients: 97 in the thymoglobulin and 112 in the control group. RESULTS: The main complication was DGF (59.3%), with a similar incidence in both groups (63.9% vs. 55.3%; P = .36). Acute rejection episodes (ARE) were decreased with thymoglobulin (8.2% vs. 28.5%; P < .001), but cytomegalovirus viremia was 3.4-fold more frequent (58.3% vs. 17.1%; P < .001). One-year graft function was significantly better in the thymoglobulin group (59.2 ± 17.2 vs. 51.8 ± 15.3 mL/min; P = .004), even when censored by ARE (59.7 ± 17.5 vs. 53.3 ± 14.4; P = .023). The same difference was observed at the 2-year follow-up (P = .024), even when censored for ARE (P = .045). A multivariate analysis showed thymoglobulin to be a factor strongly associated with protection of graft function (P = .039). CONCLUSION: Despite not reducing the incidence of DGF, thymoglobulin induction significantly reduced the incidence of ARE and showed a long-term profile of protection of renal graft function, independent of the reduction in ARE.

Prevalence and progression of chronic kidney disease after renal transplantation.

BACKGROUND: We studied the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and its progression after kidney transplantation. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the evolution of renal graft function, as estimated by the Cockcroft-Gault equation in 567 patients. CKD was classified in accordance with the National Kidney Foundation/Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative with progression estimated by calculating the slope over time. RESULTS: Creatinine clearance (CrCL) at 1 year after transplantation was 57.8 ± 15.5 mL/min with 61.9% patients presenting de novo chronic renal failure. The 1-year-CrCl provided the best correlation with the 3-year CrCl (R(2) = 0.58; P < .001). Medians of slope (MS) among all patients was -2.38 ± 5.7 mL/min/y (-11.9 mL/min over 5 years). Patients who reached a CrCl < 60 at 1 year after transplantation showed a MS of -3.92 ± 6.5, while the others, -2.03 ± 5.2 mL/min/y (P = .046). Similarly, patients who reached a CrCL < 60 at 3 years after transplantation displayed a MS of -1.49 ± 3.5 mL/min/y, while the others, 0.62 ± 3.0 mL/min/y (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of renal transplant patients present de novo chronic renal failure already at 1 year posttransplantation. The rate of graft functional deterioration was 2.38 mL/min/y. It was worse among patients who displayed a CrCL less than 60 mL/min both at 1 and at 3 years. One-year CrCL was a good marker for 3-year CrCL.

Effects of ischemia and reperfusion injury on long-term graft function.

BACKGROUND: The clinical manifestation of ischemia/reperfusion injury in renal transplantation is delayed graft function (DGF), which is associated with an increase in acute rejection episodes (ARE), costs, and difficulties in immunosuppressive management. We sought to evaluated the DGF impact after renal transplant. METHODS: We evaluated a group of 628 patients undergoing deceased donor renal transplantation between 2002 and 2005 at 3 Brazilians institutions to define the main DGF characteristics. RESULTS: DGF incidence was 56.8%, being associated with elderly donors (P = .02), longer time on dialysis (P = .001), and greater cold ischemia time (CIT; P = .001). Upon multivariate analysis, time on dialysis >5 years increased DGF risk by 42% (P = .02) and CIT >24 hours increased it by 57% (P = .008). In contrast, DGF was associated with an higher incidence of ARE: 27.7% in DGF versus 18.4% in IGF patients (P = .047). The ARE risk was 46% higher among individuals with DGF (P = .02), 44% among patients >45 years old (P < .001), 50% among those with >5 years of dialysis time (P = .02), and 47% lower among the who were prescribed mycophenolate instead of azathioprine (P < .001). Patients with DGF showed worse 1-year graft function (54.6 ± 20.3 vs 59.6 ± 19.4 mL/min; P = .004), particularly those with ARE (55.5 ± 19.3 vs 60.7 ± 20.4; P = .009). One-year graft survival was 88.5% among DGF versus 94.0% among non-DGF patients. CONCLUSION: The high incidence of DGF was mainly associated with a prolonged CIT. There was a relationship between DGF and ARE, as well as with a negative influence on long-term graft function.

Impact of therapeutic changes on renal graft survival with posttransplant glomerulonephritis.

INTRODUCTION: Posttransplant glomerulonephritis (GN) is the third cause of graft loss after 1 year of transplant follow-up; few approaches have been efficient in reversing this outcome. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the modification of the immunosuppressive therapy for treating posttransplant GN had an impact on allograft survival. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-nine patients who underwent renal transplantation and developed posttransplant GN were divided into two groups: group 1, 22 patients with modified immunosuppressive treatment (72.3%, pulse of methylprednisolone; 13.6%, high-dose oral corticosteroid), and group 2, where it was maintained. Additionally, the impact of the concomitant use of drugs that promote the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockade (RAASB) was analyzed in terms of graft survival. RESULTS: We established the diagnosis of GN at 17.9 months (range, 0.57 to 153.4) after transplantation, when serum creatinine (Cr) was 2.2 mg/dL (range, 0.8 to 12.5) and proteinuria 3.2 g/L (range, 0.2 to 24.2). Graft survivals at 1 and 3 years after diagnosis were 69.2% and 52.9%, respectively. The patients of group 1 showed a lower prevalence of graft loss (27.2% versus 48.1%, P = .40) and better survival at the end of 1 year (73.2% versus 60.4%) and 3 years (62.5% versus 38.0%, P = .26), but the differences were not significant. RAASB showed a positive impact on survival at the end of 3 years in both groups: for group 1, 83.8% with RAASB, 41.4% without RAASB; and for group 2, 75% with RAASB and 14.8% without RAASB (P < .001). CONCLUSION: Although treatment of posttransplant GN with modification of immunosuppression seemed to improve graft survival in the first 3 years after diagnosis, RAASB improved this effect.

Effect of thymoglobulin in graft survival and function 1 year after kidney transplantation using deceased donors.

UNLABELLED: This study evaluated 1-year graft function and survival among kidney transplantations from deceased donors using thymoglobulin (Thymo) as an induction strategy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-seven percent of patients were men and overall mean age was 42 +/- 15 years. Cold ischemia time was 20.1 +/- 4.8 hours. The primary outcome was defined as survival not censored for death after 1 year. The secondary outcome was defined as a comparison of function and survival among patients who received more or less then six doses of Thymo. RESULTS: Four patients experienced acute rejection episodes and the other three died during follow-up. One-year graft survival was 91% with a mean serum creatinine of 1.28 +/- 0.43 mg/dL. Cytomegalovirus infection occurred in 56%. Forty-two (64%) patients displayed acute tubular necrosis of mean duration of 6.89 +/- 7.48 days. Patients who received lower doses showed better serum creatinine values 3 months (1.45 vs 1.86 mg/dL, P = .013) and 12 months (1.05 vs 1.50 mg/dL, P = .04). The difference was probably due to acute tubular necrosis that produced a RR of 1.7 (P = .02; CI 1.04-2.97) when compared with patients with Scr values above 1.30 mg/dL. When censored for death, graft survival was not different between the two groups (< or =6 doses 93% vs >6 doses 97%, P = .43). CONCLUSION: Immunologic induction with Thymo produced excellent graft survival after 1 year with preservation of graft function. Delayed graft function was the most important determinant of graft function after 1 year.