[Analysis of the frequency of anti-HLA hyperimmunization in patients with kidney transplantation]

Highly sensitized patients tend to accumulate on renal transplant waiting lists. A long period of time is often needed for the identification of a compatible graft possessing the rare HLA antigens against which these patients are not immunized. The aim of this study was to identify factors which could explain the fact that the percentage of highly sensitized patients on the Swiss waiting list is one of the highest in Europe. Although no definite conclusion is possible, it seems that this phenomenon is not related to the fact that many of these patients have received mismatched grafts. It seems rather to result from the relatively high rate of transplantations for non-sensitized versus highly sensitized patients in comparison to what is encountered in other countries. The fact that this probably represents only a relative increase in hypersensitized patients is confirmed by the stability of the absolute number of these patients on the waiting list during recent years.