Why does kidney allograft fail? A long-term single-center experience

Abstract

We studied the characteristics and the predictors of survival in Bahraini renal transplant recipients with an allograft that functioned for more than 10 years. Seventy-eight patients underwent renal transplantation between 1982 and 1999. Among them, 56 patients maintained functioning allografts for more than 10 years (range 10-30 years). Characteristics of the surviving patients, data on graft survival, and determinants of outcome were obtained by reviewing all medical records. The mean age at time of renal transplantation was 33.6 ± 15.3 years. The source of the graft in 42 (75%) recipients was from living related donors with a mean age of 31.4 ± 7.7 years, and it was the first graft in 48 recipients. The primary immunosuppression regimen consisted of cyclosporine (CsA) and prednisolone. Azathioprine (AZA) was given to 52 (92.9%) recipients, while four patients received steroids and AZA only. Induction therapy was administered to 30 patients in the CsA group. Acute rejection episodes occurred in eight (14.3%) patients, of whom two experienced two episodes. During the last follow-up in January 2010, the mean serum creatinine was 118.3 ± 46.5 μmol/L. A history of cancer was noted in one patient, whereas hypertension was encountered in 54% and diabetes mellitus in 20.5%. We compared the graft functioning group with the graft failure group and found that the independent determinants of long-term graft survival included time of late acute rejection episodes and histopathologic findings of chronic allograft damage, post-transplant hypertension and serum creatinine at one year. We conclude that renal transplantation even in its earliest years and despite the associated numerous complications has provided a ten-year or more of near-normal life to patients with end-stage renal disease.