The 12th Annual Report of the North American Pediatric Renal Transplant Cooperative Study: Renal transplantation from 1987 through 1998

Abstract

The North American Pediatric Renal Transplant Cooperative Study (NAPRTCS) presents an annual report for all transplants registered from January 1987 onwards. In this report we reviewed 6,534 renal transplants recorded for 5,958 patients who had entered the study by January 1999, and attempted to identify changes in practice patterns that had led to improved graft survival. There has been a steady decline in cadaver source transplants nationally and our accrual for 1996 and 1997 reflected this trend. There has also been a decrease in the number of infants and young children receiving a transplant in recent years. From a peak of 23.3% in the 1987-91 cohort, the current report shows that children under 6 yr of age now account for only 20.4% of all transplants. Changing disease patterns and rates of progression of disease have decreased the percentage of Caucasian children in the transplant registry, from 68.5% in the first 5 yr to 62.9% in the most recent cohort. Changing practice patterns have markedly reduced the use of cadaver donor (CD) kidneys (recovered from donors younger than 10 yr of age) from 35% in 1991 to 22% in the current report. Acute rejection patterns are identical for CD and living donor (LD) grafts for the first 2 weeks post-transplant. The comparative percentages on days 30 and 45 are 36% and 44% for CD, and 26% and 32% for LD recipients respectively. By the end of the first year post-transplant, 45% of LD and 60% CD recipients have had an acute rejection. There has been a marked improvement in our ability to reverse the initial episode of rejection; in 1987, 52% were completely reversed in LD recipients, and in 1997 61% were reversed. Rejection percentages continued to be lower in patients maintained on cyclosporin A (CsA) doses of > 6.4 mg/kg. One-, 3-, and 5-yr graft survival probabilities were 91%, 85%, and 80%, respectively, for LD recipients, and 83%, 73%, and 65% for CD recipients. Comparative 1- and 3-yr figures from 1987 to 1991 were 88% and 81% for LD and 74% and 63% for CD recipients. When short-term graft survival (1 yr) results were compared, a significant improvement was demonstrated from 71.7% in 1987/88 to 92.6% in 1998/1999 for CD transplants. Hence, changing practice patterns have gradually brought the short-term graft survival of CD transplants very close to that of LD transplants. The continuing decrease in the incidence of acute rejections in more recent years should translate into a further delay in the onset of chronic rejection, thus improving graft longevity.

Psychosocial impact of living-related kidney transplantation on donors and partners

“…The medical benefits must be weighed against the potential risks. LRKT offers several advantages, i.e., better planning, increased availability of preemptive transplantation, and improved short-and midterm graft survival [1,13,14]. In addition, LRKT improves the relationship of donor, partner, and the recipient child.…”

Factors related to long-term renal transplant function in children

“…A single center study reported 66% graft survival at 10 years [6]. Renal allograft survival in infants is now similar to that in older children [7,8], and short-term deceased donor allograft survival in children now approaches that of living donation [7,8]. Three-and five-year graft survival rates in children have been shown to be related to the transplant center, recipient race, recipient age, primary disease, date of transplant, panel reactivity (PRA), and donor source [5,9].…”

“…received renal transplants. Data collection methods have been previously reported [7]. In short, centers submit data at the time of transplant, at 30 days post-transplant, and every 6 months thereafter.…”

Corticosteroid avoidance in pediatric renal transplantation

“…Their ability to prevent and also limit episodes of acute rejection is the reason that renal transplantation has established itself as the therapeutic modality of choice for patients with end-stage renal disease [1]. Ninety-five percent of all pediatric renal transplant recipients are on corticosteroids 30 days after transplantation [2,3].…”