[Acute early rejection in renal transplantation]

The incidence of early acute rejection (first two months after surgery) was evaluated in a group of 150 kidney transplants, receptors, who were followed for more than three months. Ninety nine were transplanted with kidney from a cadaver donor and 51 with living donor. One hundred forty two patients were treated with triple immunosuppression therapy (cyclosporine, prednisone and azathioprine). The incidence of early acute rejection was significantly higher in cadaver kidney receptors (34% vs 19.6%, p = 0.04. Fisher exact test). However, early rejection did not have demonstrable influence in graft or patient survival or in the follow-up graft function. Graft and patient survival were not affected by the severity of the rejection episode.