Conversion from cyclosporine to tacrolimus in patients at risk for chronic renal allograft failure: 60-month results of the CRAF Study.

Background: This study compared the long-term effects of switching from cyclosporine to tacrolimus on the incidence, progression, and severity of chronic renal allograft failure in patients with elevated serum creatinine levels.

Methods: Patients were assigned randomly (2:1) to switch to tacrolimus or remain on cyclosporine. Tacrolimus was initiated at 1/50th of the cyclosporine dose or 0.

A fatal case of necrotizing fasciitis caused by Serratia marcescens.

A patient with a history of type II diabetes mellitus (DM), end stage renal disease (ESRD), and congestive heart failure (CHF) developed necrotizing fasciitis caused by Serratia marcescens after scraping his leg on rocks in a river while fishing. Aggressive management with surgical debridement, antibiotics, and pressure support was unsuccessful.

Limited dose monoclonal IL-2R antibody induction protocol after primary kidney transplantation.

This study prospectively compared immunoprophylaxis with a single intraoperative dose (2 mg/kg) of monoclonal interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) antibody vs. noninduction in kidney transplant recipients treated with tacrolimus (FK 506), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and a prednisone-based immunosuppression regimen. One hundred recipients of first-kidney transplant were enrolled into the study to receive either anti-IL-2R monoclonal antibody, daclizumab (2 mg/kg intraoperatively, limited anti-IL-2R) or no induction (control).