Clinical trial of low-dose rabbit anti-human thymocyte globulin for induction therapy of kidney transplantation in children / 中华器官移植杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the efficacy and safety of low-dose rabbit anti-human thymocyte globulin (rATG) for induction therapy of kidney transplantation (KT) in children.Methods:From October 2018 to May 2021, clinical data were reviewed retrospectively for 77 pediatric KT recipients on a low-dose rATG induction protocol.Recipient/graft survival rate, renal function recovery, acute rejection (AR) and adverse reactions were observed at 1 year post-operation.The postoperative changes of renal function were examined by Friedman’s test; According to the preoperative baseline data, Pearson’s Chi-square or Fisher's exact test was utilized for examining the influencing factors of postoperative AR.Results:A total of 16(20.78%) recipients had AR within the first 6 months post-operation.The incidence of delayed graft function (DGF) was 14.29%(11/77); The incidence of severe infection post-transplantation 18.18%(14/77), the infection rate of BK virus 25.97%(20/77) and the incidence of neutropenia 32.47%(25/77).The recipient/graft survival rate at 1 year post-operation was 97.40%(75/77) and 94.81%(73/77) respectively.Chi-square test indicated that the incidence of postoperative infection in children with body weight ≤30 kg and height ≤138 cm was 28.95%(11/38) and 27.50%(11/40) respectively, Both were higher than 7.69%(3/39) and 8.11%(3/37) of children with body weight >30 kg and height>138 cm.The difference between groups was statistically significant ( P=0.016 and 0.028). Conclusions:Low-dose rATG is generally excellent in preventing AR in pediatric KT recipients.And the risk of related AR may be lower.The infection rate of recipients with decent preoperative development is low.