Sahyoun Ai

Influence of rejection therapy on fungal and nocardial infections in renal-transplant recipients

Abstract Of 51 renal-transplant recipients, 15 had twenty infections caused by fungus or nocardia. Of these 15 patients, aspergillus was found in 11, nocardia in 4, cryptococcus in 2, candida in 2, and phycomycetes in 1. All 11 patients with aspergillus died, and in 8 of these patients aspergillus was judged to have been the principal cause of death. There was a significant correlation between the frequency of episodes of rejection (and their treatment) and the subsequent development of fungal or nocardial infection. These infections developed in 3 of the 23 patients with no rejections, as compared with 12 of the 31 patients treated for one or more rejection episodes (P

Correlation of clinical outcomes after tacrolimus conversion for resistant kidney rejection or cyclosporine toxicity with pathologic staging by the Banff criteria.

BACKGROUND Refractory rejection and cyclosporine (CsA)-induced nephropathy remain important causes of renal allograft loss. Previous studies demonstrated that 70-85% of the episodes of refractory acute rejection (AR) occurring in renal allograft recipients on a CsA-based immunosuppressive regimen could be salvaged by conversion to tacrolimus. No data are available regarding the correlation between allograft histology at the time of conversion and the response to tacrolimus. We examined the response to tacrolimus conversion in relation to preconversion biopsies stratified by the Banff criteria. METHODS Since May 1992, we have converted 22 patients from CsA to tacrolimus as part of a rescue protocol. We report on 18 patients in whom 6-month follow-up was available after conversion for biopsy-proven AR (n=13) or CsA toxicity (n=5). Sixteen patients were recipients of renal allografts, including three second transplants, and two were recipients of kidney-pancreas transplants. All patients with AR were treated with one or more courses of methylprednisolone and OKT3 before conversion. Renal allograft biopsies were interpreted by a transplant pathologist blinded to the clinical history, and graded according to the Banff criteria. Responses to tacrolimus were scored as improved (creatinine returned to within 150% of baseline), stabilized (creatinine rise arrested), or failed (returned to dialysis). RESULTS; Mean follow-up was 17.3+/-8 months. Fourteen of 18 patients (78%) showed improvement or stabilization in renal function as assessed by creatinine at 6 months or 1 year (when available). Of the 13 patients with histological AR, nine (69%) improved, including five of six with borderline AR, two of three with grade I AR, and two of four with grade II AR. Of the four other patients with AR, two stabilized and two failed. Three of five patients with severe clinical rejection requiring dialysis (range 2-16 weeks) recovered renal function after conversion. Of five patients with CsA toxicity, two (40%) improved. Seven of eight patients who were converted to tacrolimus less than 90 days after transplantation improved, compared with only 4 of 10 who were converted more than 90 days after transplantation. No grafts were lost in patients with a creatinine <3.0 mg/dl at the time of conversion versus two of seven grafts lost when the creatinine was 3.1-5.0 mg/dl and two of eight grafts lost when the creatinine was >5.0 mg/dl. CONCLUSION The majority of steroid and antilymphocyte antibody (OKT3 or ATGAM) unresponsive rejections in patients on CsA-based immunosuppression will improve or stabilize after conversion to tacrolimus. There was no correlation with allograft histology stratified by the Banff criteria and the response to tacrolimus. Although there was a trend toward a poorer response with more severe histological rejection, higher serum creatinine at the time of conversion, and longer time from transplantation to conversion, favorable responses were noted in all groups. This indicates that a trial of conversion is warranted, irrespective of the histological severity of injury.

Bioavailability and Patient Acceptance of Cyclosporine Soft Gelatin Capsules in Renal Allograft Recipients

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative bioavailability and patient acceptance of cyclosporine (CSA) soft gelatin capsule versus oral solution in renal allograft recipients. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: The bioavailability of CSA capsules was compared with that of CSA solution with crossover study design in the outpatient clinic setting. Nine renal allograft recipients with stable renal function participated in this study. METHODS: CSA dose was switched from solution to capsule in each patient for seven days. At steady-state, nine blood samples were obtained over a 12-hour period from each patient on day 7 for CSA solution and on day 14 for CSA capsules. CSA blood samples were analyzed by HPLC and fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) methods. Time to peak concentration (Tmax), peak concentration (Tmax), and area under the curve (AUC) were calculated on days 7 and 14, and compared using the matched Students t-test. Patient acceptance was evaluated by patient preference on the questionnaire. RESULTS: For CSA blood concentrations measured by HPLC assay, the Tmax, Cmax, and AUC were 3.4 ± 1.3 h, 569 ± 240 nmol/L, and 4659 ± 2144 h • nmol/L (mean ± SD), respectively, with solution and 4.2 ± 2.1 h, 560 ± 257 nmol/L, and 4765 ± 1799 h • nmol/L (mean ± SD), respectively, with capsules. These differences were not significant (p>0.1). The bioavailability was not significantly different between capsules and solutions when it was measured by PFIA assay (p>0.1). The mean (± SD) relative bioavailability of capsules compared with solution was 109 ± 29 percent AUC (0–12 h) measured by HPLC and 111 ± 27 percent AUC (0–12 h) measured by FPIA. All patients expressed preference for capsules over the solution. CONCLUSIONS: CSA oral soft gelatin capsule is bioequivalent to CSA oral solution and most patients preferred the capsule to the oral solution.

Renal Transplantation in the Diabetic

The practices and recent results from a transplant center servicing a large proportion of uremic diabetics were reviewed to highlight modern management issues. The focus is taken off the diabetic as a “high-risk” renal transplant recipient and brought to bear on the laborintensive aspects of his or her management. With special attention to perioperative cardiovascular status, operative mortality (30 day) can be less than 3.5% and morbidity minimized. Living related donors continue to offer advantages in terms of organ availability, early postoperative function, and most likely long-term function, but in the cyclosporin era cadaver renal transplants have evolved competitive 1-year patient survival rates of 96% and 1-year graft survival rates of 88%. Still, the proportion of graft losses due to death of the patient from nonimmunologic causes, chiefly cardiac and cerebrovascular events, remains relatively high in the diabetic at 35.8%. Rehabilitation of the diabetic post-transplant is less complete than that of the nondiabetic transplant recipient, but is clearly superior to that of alternative modes of therapy for the uremic diabetic.