I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: donnia on January 09, 2008, 07:26:53 AM
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If you have had a transplant before, how many allels (sp?) matched? How well did that kidney work after you got it???
Is 2 out of 6 an okay match?
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When I gave my husband a kidney (2000), we were a 1 out of 6 antigen match. Before the surgery, his doctors prepared us that it could possibly reject. Didn't happen! His body accepted it, and the kidney started working in him while he was still on the operating table. He did lose the kidney three years later -- but not because of a rejection. The disease that destroyed his original kidneys (IGA nephropathy) attacked the transplanted kidney and destroyed it, too. They've come so far with antirejection meds that a lower match is easier to keep than it was years ago.
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Jenna's donor was 1 of 6 match. The neph told us that the antibody crossmatch is much more of a concern, and that a 0 of 6 match from a living donor is a lot better than a 6 of 6 match from a deceased donor.
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Great! One of my donors just told me that she is a match for me....2 out of 6. So I was just wondering.
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Keep in mind that there are hundreds of HLA groups which determine the immunological signature of a person's organs, and that of these only six, or at some centers now, only eight, are being taken into account to 'match' one person to another for transplant. A transplant from a close relative is thus always better if possible, since in addition to the tested matching HLA sites, there are likely to be many more untested ones which match. The six or eight tested for matching are just those presently believed to be the most important for immunological compatibility.
Of the HLA groups, the most important for the immunological success of the transplant is the DR group, so always ask if that is one of the ones found to match.
In addition to the HLA matching, the number of pre-formed antigens to foreign renal tissue is important, and this is tested by the cross-matching.
Other factors found to have a positive influence on the survival of the graft are 1) a young donor; 2) a male donor; 3) a living donor; and 4) low warm ischemia time elapsed before transplantation.
The main cause of graft loss now is no longer rejection but chronic allograft nephropathy -- a multi-factorial process poorly understood and unable to be prevented by any known medical intervention. It may have subclinical immunological components, but it seems also to have some connection with higher blood pressure and higher blood lipid levels in the graft recipient.
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My daughter matched 3 out of 6 and has had the kidney for over seven years now. I did want to mention she went through a period where her labs were slowly getting worse. She was switched from neoral to prograf and finally to myfortic before she started getting better. As far as I can tell getting the right drugs after the transplant is an art with people responding differently to different drugs.
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I found out that we matched A2 and A31..... no DR..... but at least she is a match :clap;