Group of new projects in transplantation (Grupo español de actualizaciones en trasplante).Prolonged-release tacrolimus was developed to provide a more convenient once-daily dosing that could improve patient adherence. We conducted a multicenter, prospective, observational, 12-month study to describe the efficacy, safety and patient preference of conversion from tacrolimus twice-daily to once-daily formulation in stable kidney transplant recipients in routine clinical practice. Conversion was made on a 1 mg : 1 mg basis (1 mg : 1.1 mg in patients with trough levels <6 ng/mL). The study included 1832 patients (mean age (±SD): 50.0 ± 13.4 years; 62.7% male). After conversion, a modest reduction in tacrolimus trough levels, necessitating an increase in daily dose, was observed (mean changes at 12 months of -9.1% and +1.24%, respectively; p < 0.0001). Mean glomerular filtration rate did not change significantly (56.5 ± 19.7 mL/min at conversion vs. 55.7 ± 20.6 mL/min at 12 months). Proteinuria, blood pressure, lipid, hepatic and glucose parameters remained stable. Eight patients (0.4%) had acute rejection and 34 patients (1.85%) discontinued treatment. Almost all patients (99.4%) preferred the once-daily formulation, because of less frequent dosing (66%) and improved adherence (34%). In conclusion, at similar doses to twice-daily tacrolimus, once-daily formulation provided stable renal function, a low acute rejection rate, and good tolerability in stable kidney transplant recipients in the routine clinical practice setting.

Recurrence of idiopathic focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) following kidney transplantation oc-

Summary Recurrence of idiopathic focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is a serious complication after kidney transplantation. FSGS relapse is suspected by a sudden increase in proteinuria but there is not an accurate noninvasive diagnostic tool to confirm this entity or to detect patients at risk. We aimed to validate the diagnostic performance of ApoA‐Ib to detect FSGS relapses by measuring urinary ApoA‐Ib in a retrospective cohort of 61 kidney transplanted patients (37 FSGS and 24 non‐FSGS). In addition, to assess the ApoA‐Ib predictive ability, ApoA‐Ib was measured periodically in a prospective cohort of 13 idiopathic FSGS patients who were followed during 1 year after transplantation. ApoA‐Ib had a sensitivity of 93.3% and a specificity of 90.9% to diagnose FSGS relapses, with a high negative predictive value (95.2%), confirming our previous results. In the prospective cohort, ApoA‐Ib predated the recurrence in four of five episodes observed. In the nonrelapsing group (n = 9), ApoA‐Ib was negative in 37 of 38 samples. ApoA‐Ib has the potential to be a good diagnostic biomarker of FSGS relapses, providing a confident criterion to exclude false positives even in the presence of high proteinuria. It has also the potential to detect patients at risk of relapse, even before transplantation.

SummaryThere is notable heterogeneity in the implementation of cytomegalovirus (CMV) prevention practices among CMV-seropositive (R+) kidney transplant (KT) recipients. In this prospective observational study, we included 387 CMV R+ KT recipients from 25 Spanish centers. Prevention strategies (antiviral prophylaxis or preemptive therapy) were applied according to institutional protocols at each site. The impact on the 12-month incidence of CMV disease was assessed by Cox regression. Asymptomatic CMV infection, acute rejection, graft function, non-CMV infection, graft loss, and all-cause mortality were also analyzed (secondary outcomes). Models were adjusted for a propensity score (PS) analysis for receiving antiviral prophylaxis. Overall, 190 patients (49.1%) received preemptive therapy, 185 (47.8%) antiviral prophylaxis, and 12 (3.1%) no specific intervention. Twelve-month cumulative incidences of CMV disease and asymptomatic infection were 3.6% and 39.3%, respectively. Patients on prophylaxis had lower incidence of CMV disease [PS-adjusted HR (aHR): 0.10; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.01-0.79] and asymptomatic infection (aHR: 0.46; 95% CI: 0.29-0.72) than those managed preemptively, with no significant differences according to the duration of prophylaxis. All cases of CMV disease in the prophylaxis group occurred after prophylaxis discontinuation. There were no differences in any of the 1042

Post-surgical hypocalcemia is usually a transitory complication in thyroid and parathyroid surgery that can be resolved quickly, although it becomes a delicate matter when the problem persists. Parathyroid transplantation is the choice of treatment; however, the associated immunosuppression can cause side effects. The following case study shows the transplantation of parathyroid tissue from a patient with secondary hyperparathyroidism to another kidney transplant patient with severe hypocalcemia that was medically intractable. The graft is functioning after 2 years.