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Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on October 30, 2009, 03:22:07 PM
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Earlier May Not Be Better For Preemptive Kidney Transplants
John Schieszer
October 29 2009
This article is part of our ongoing coverage of Renal Week 2009. Click here for a complete list of our Renal Week Live articles.
Key Points
* Pre-dialysis transplant recipients with a high level of kidney function do not appear to benefit from their transplant more than pre-dialysis recipients with a low level of kidney function.
* The findings suggest that pre-dialysis patients need not rush to have a pre-emptive transplant.
* Investigators feel that patients anticipating a pre-emptive kidney transplant can wait for clinical indications to emerge without any significant loss of survival advantage associated with a pre-emptive transplant.
Pre-dialysis transplant recipients with a high level of kidney function do not appear to benefit from their transplant more than pre-dialysis recipients with a low level of kidney function, data show. The findings suggest that pre-dialysis patients need not rush to have a pre-emptive transplant.
Patients who undergo pre-emptive transplantation live longer and have higher functioning transplants than post-dialysis transplant recipients. However, studies have not looked at whether higher kidney function among pre-dialysis recipients improves patients' long-term health.
Using data from the United Network for Organ Sharing, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, Calif., identified 25,748 pre-emptive transplant recipients and divided them into two groups: patients with higher kidney function and patients with lower kidney function at the time of transplant. Patient and kidney transplant survival were similar in the two groups. The high-level group had a 34% decreased risk of acute rejection at six months post-transplant and a 35% reduced risk of requiring dialysis within the first week after transplantation.
“Based on these findings, we feel that patients and transplant experts anticipating a pre-emptive kidney transplant can wait for clinical indications to emerge without any significant loss of survival advantage associated with a pre-emptive transplant,” said Basit Javaid, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford.
Posted Oct. 29, 2009 - 12:15 pm PT as an unedited blog
http://www.renalandurologynews.com/Earlier-May-Not-Be-Better-For-Preemptive-Kidney-Transplants/PrintArticle/156550/