ABSTRACT
Guatemala is Central America's westernmost country, with a ratio of 500,000 inhabitants per nephrologist. Yearly reports show an average of 150 new end-stage renal disease patients and 40 renal transplants, which are performed at two public health care facilities. The aim of this study was to describe the results of the transplant program at one of these centers (Social Security Hospital of Guatemala). Our program began in 1986, performing an average of 17 transplants per year. Cyclosporine has been used since 1992, and since 2001, C2 has been routinely monitored. Data on 255 patients (of 293) were available for analysis. Male-to-female ratio was 7:1, with 94% having received hemodialysis as their replacement therapy. The mean age at transplant was 35 years and living related donors used in 95%. The average duration of follow-up was 7 years. The mean creatinine and C2 level at most recent visit were 1.36 mg/dL and 864 ng/mL, respectively. A significant reduction in the incidence of acute rejection episodes was seen after the initiation of C2 monitoring (3% vs 1.2%). In general, these results are similar to data in other countries. The number of transplants performed must be increased to meet the current demand, and the cadaveric source of donation is the obvious way to do so. C2 monitoring is an example of technical improvements directed to optimize available resources.
