Short-term experience with early steroid withdrawal in African-American renal transplant recipients.

There are limited data on the results of early steroid withdrawal (ESW) in African-American (AA) renal allograft recipients. We examined short-term transplant outcomes in a retrospective, non-concurrent cohort study of 40 AAs who did not (ESW group), and 33 who did [steroid maintenance (SM) group] receive maintenance steroids after day 4 post-transplant. Patients received thymoglobulin (ATG) induction, mycophenolate mofetil, and tacrolimus or sirolimus.

Infectious complications after kidney transplantation: current epidemiology and associated risk factors.

Background: The impact of newer immunosuppressive and antimicrobial prophylactic agents on the pattern of infectious complications following kidney transplantation has not been well studied.

Methods: This is an observational study in 127 adult recipients transplanted from 2001 to 2004. Patients received thymoglobulin (ATG) (50%) or basiliximab (50%) for induction and were maintained on mycophenolate mofetil, either tacrolimus (73%) or sirolimus (SRL) (27%), and prednisone (79%).

Predictive value of human leucocyte antigen epitope matching using HLAMatchmaker for graft outcomes in a predominantly African-American renal transplant cohort.

The HLAMatchmaker program is based on the donor/recipient comparison of the polymorphic triplet amino-acid sequences of the antibody-accessible regions on the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) molecule. The previous reports on its predictive value for renal allograft outcomes are conflicting. We conducted a retrospective study in a predominantly African-American (AA) cohort (N = 101, 94% AA).

Preliminary results with early corticosteroid withdrawal in African American renal allograft recipients.

Background: There is a paucity of data regarding the use of steroid-avoidance immunosuppression (SAI) in African American (AA) renal allograft recipients, traditionally considered a high-risk subgroup of patients with higher reported rates of acute rejection and graft loss.

Methods: We compared the outcomes of 27 AA renal allograft recipients receiving SAI (SA group; mean follow-up period, 12 +/- 3 mo) with those of 20 patients receiving a steroid taper (ST group; 24 +/- 11 mo). In both groups, thymoglobulin was used for induction, and mycophenolate mofetil and tacrolimus were used for maintenance.

Induction therapy with basiliximab versus Thymoglobulin in African-American kidney transplant recipients.

Background: It has been suggested that the use of antilymphocyte induction therapy in African-American (AA) renal transplant recipients reduces the risk of acute rejection (AR) and improves graft survival. It is not clear whether the efficacy of basiliximab (BSX) is different from that of Thymoglobulin (ATG) in this regard.

Methods: We retrospectively assessed the effect of induction therapy with BSX versus ATG in 88 AA renal allograft recipients receiving transplants at our center between July 2001 and June 2003 and followed for 19+/-7 months.