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Is the lower cyclosporine concentration at 2 hours after dosing safe in kidney transplant recipients?
B Einollahi1, Z Rostami, E Kalantar
1Nephrology and Urology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, and Baqiyatallah Hospital, Tehran, Iran. einollahi@ijnu.ir
Objective:
To determine the correlation between cyclosporine blood concentration at 2 hours after dosing (C2) and renal allograft function.
Materials And Methods:
From 2008 to 2010, 1191 kidney transplant recipients (718 male and 473 female patients) were studied. The correlation between serum creatinine concentration and C2 blood concentration was stratified as 400, 600, 800, and 1000 ng/mL.
Results:
The mean (SD) C2 was 620 (235) ng/mL, and serum creatinine concentration was 1.49 (0.68) mg/dL. At multivariate regression analysis, no significant correlation was observed between serum creatinine concentration and C2 blood concentrations of 600, 800, or 1000 ng/mL (P=.18, .57, and .76, respectively); however, it was associated at 400 ng/mL (P=.03). Moreover, 36.1% of 3159 samples demonstrated satisfactory renal allograft function despite low C2 blood concentration between 400 and 600 ng/mL.
Conclusion:
During maintenance therapy, C2 blood concentration between 400 and 600 ng/mL is effective and safe for providing prophylaxis against rejection, and can improve long-term survival by decreasing cyclosporine toxicity.
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