Stabilization of estimated glomerular filtration rate in kidney transplantation from deceased donors with acute kidney injuries.

AIM: To evaluate and compare the outcomes of kidney transplant (KT) from deceased donors among standard criteria, acute kidney injury (AKI) and expanded criteria donors (ECDs). METHODS: This retrospective study included 111 deceased donor kidney transplant recipients (DDKT). Deceased donors were classified as standard criteria donor (SCD), AKI donor and ECD. AKI was diagnosed and classified based on change of serum Cr by acute kidney injury network (AKIN) criteria. Primary outcome was one-year estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) calculated from Cr by CKD-EPI. Multivariate regression analysis was done by adjusting factors such as type of DDKT, %Panel-reactive antibodies, cold ischemic time, the presence of delayed graft function and the use of induction therapy. Significant factors that can affect the primary outcomes were then identified. RESULTS: ECD group had a significantly lower eGFR at one year (33.9 ± 17.3 mL/min) when compared with AKI group (56.6 ± 23.9) and SCD group (63.6 ± 19.9) (P < 0.001). For AKI group, one-year eGFR was also indifferent among AKIN stage 1, 2 or 3. Patients with AKIN stage 3 had progressive increase of eGFR from 49.6 ± 27.2 at discharge to 61.9 ± 29.0 mL/min at one year. From Kaplan-Meier analysis, AKI donor showed better two-year graft survival than ECD (100% vs 88.5%, P = 0.006). Interestingly, AKI group had a stable eGFR at one and two year. The two-year eGFR of AKI group was not significantly different from SCD group (56.6 ± 24.5 mL/min vs 58.6 ± 23.2 mL/min, P = 0.65). CONCLUSION: Kidney transplantations from deceased donors with variable stage of acute kidney injuries were associated with favorable two-year allograft function. The outcomes were comparable with KT from SCD. This information supports the option that deceased donors with AKI are an important source of organ for kidney transplantation even in the presence of stage 3 AKI.

Depletion of alloreactive T cells for tolerance induction in a recipient of kidney and hematopoietic stem cell transplantations.

The present case report represents a successful attempt to induce transplantation tolerance to organ allograft by combined administration of donor hematopoietic cells and kidney based on in vivo deletion of alloreactive host-vs-graft and graft-vs-host alloreactive T cells following non-myeloablative conditioning. We were able to induce mixed and eventually full donor chimerism and tolerance of kidney allograft in a 15-yr-old male with ESRD after cisplatin treatment and autologous HSCT for mediastinal germ cell tumor. Our approach to induce tolerance was based on preferential depletion of alloreactive T cells induced by exposure to donor's alloantigens and administration of cyclophosphamide at day 2 and day 3 after stem cell infusion. Additional non-specific immunosuppression as part of the conditioning included exposure to two fractions of TLI, treatment with alemtuzumab (monoclonal anti-CD52) and short-term conventional IS treatment to avoid early graft loss, because of request of IRB. Using this approach, with rapid tapering of all conventional IS treatment, the patient maintains good renal functions without evidence of both acute and chronic rejection for 32 months off all medications.

Pitfall of electron beam computed tomography angiography in diagnosis of subclavian steal syndrome.

A patient presented with vertebrobasilar insufficiency during exertion. Vertebral duplex and transcranial Doppler ultrasonography showed reversal of flow in both intracranial and extracranial vertebral and basilar arteries, suggesting bilateral subclavian and vertebrobasilar steal. Electron beam computed tomography angiography (CTA) showed no evidence of subclavian artery stenosis including normal vertebral artery origin on both sides. However, digital subtraction angiography revealed complete occlusion of both subclavian arteries with retrograde flow from both vertebral and basilar arteries to reconstitute both subclavian arteries. This false-negative finding on CTA in detection of subclavian steal syndrome (SSS) is due to inappropriate contrast administration technique and postprocessing method, inability to differentiate flow direction, and lack of hemodynamic time sequences. This study demonstrates a pitfall of CTA in diagnosis of SSS compared to more reliable hemodynamic information obtained by duplex and transcranial Doppler ultrasonography, and digital subtraction angiography.