Rapid steroid withdrawal in hepatitis C virus-positive kidney transplant recipients

Enver Akalin, Barbara Murphy, Vinita Sehgal, Scott Ames, Lisa Daly, Jonathan S. Bromberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effects of rapid steroid withdrawal (SW) on kidney transplantation (KT) outcome were investigated in 12 HCV+ patients in a prospective cohort study. These results were compared with 17 HCV+ patients who received KT in the prior 2 yr and treated with a standard prednisone taper protocol. SW patients received only 6 d of steroid treatment after transplantation. Eleven received Thymoglobulin and one Basiliximab induction treatment along with a calcineurin inhibitor and mycophenolate mofetil. Patient and graft survival was 92% in SW group (median follow-up 12 months, range 6-17), and 92 and 82% in the historic control group respectively (median follow-up 21 months, range 11-27). In the SW and control-group, acute rejection rates were 9 and 18%, and mean creatinine levels at last follow-up 1.30 ± 0.36 and 1.68 ± 0.58 mg/dL respectively. Only two SW patients had an increase in liver function tests during follow-up (18%), compared with six patients in the control group (43%). This study demonstrates that rapid SW is safe for HCV+ KT recipients, without an increase in acute rejection episodes or liver function abnormalities in the short term.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)384-389
Number of pages6
JournalClinical Transplantation
Volume18
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2004
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Hepatitis C virus
  • Kidney transplantation
  • Steroid withdrawal
  • Thymoglobulin

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Transplantation

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