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Review
. 2015 May 6;4(2):148-59.
doi: 10.5527/wjn.v4.i2.148.

Management of patients with a failed kidney transplant: Dialysis reinitiation, immunosuppression weaning, and transplantectomy

Phuong-Thu Pham  1 , Matthew Everly  1 , Arman Faravardeh  1 , Phuong-Chi Pham  1
Affiliations
Review

Management of patients with a failed kidney transplant: Dialysis reinitiation, immunosuppression weaning, and transplantectomy

Phuong-Thu Pham et al. World J Nephrol. .

Abstract

The number of patients reinitiating dialysis after a failed transplant increases over time and has more than doubled between the year 1988 and 2010 (an increase from 2463 to 5588). More importantly, patients returning to dialysis have been shown to have a greater than three-fold increase in the annual adjusted mortality rates compared with those with a functioning graft. Continuation of immunosuppression to preserve residual graft function has been implicated to be a contributing factor, seemingly due to immunosuppression-associated cardiovascular and infectious complications and malignancy risk, among others. Nonetheless, maintenance low-dose immunosuppression has been suggested to confer survival benefit in patients returning to peritoneal dialysis. Whether early vs late reinitiation of dialysis or whether transplantectomy has an impact on patient survival remains poorly defined. Consensus guidelines for the management of a failed allograft are lacking. In this article, we present a literature overview on the ideal timing of dialysis reinitiation after graft loss, the management of immunosuppression after graft failure, and the risks and benefits of transplantectomy. The authors' perspectives on the management of this special patient population are also discussed.

Keywords: Allograft nephrectomy; Allosensitization; Dialysis reinitiation after transplant failure; Failed kidney transplant; Immunosuppression weaning; Transplantectomy.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Suggested algorithm for the management of immunosuppression after allograft failure. 1Continue antimetabolite and low-dose prednisone (usually 5 mg daily), calcineurin inhibitor dose reduction (or mTOR inh dose reduction if used as based-therapy); 2No live donor or not a re-allograft candidate; 3See text; 4Usually prednisone 5 mg daily ± low-dose calcineurin inhibitor (or low-dose mTOR inh if used as based-therapy). IS: Immunosuppression; mTOR inh: Mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor; ± with or without.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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