[Characteristics of acute pyelonephritis in renal transplant patients]

Renal transplantation is an attractive alternative to haemodialysis for patients with renal failure. Preserving renal function after renal transplantation depends on rejection episodes and infections of the graft.

To clarify the characteristics of acute pyelonephritis encountered in a population of kidney transplant patients and to discern risk factors occurring during the first year after transplantation.

Data for all renal transplantations between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2007 came from a database. Patients were at least 18 years old. A retrospective analysis was done.

One hundred and eighty-four patients were included in the study. The incidence of acute pyelonephritis was 10.9%. In our sample, there were significantly more women who experienced pyelonephritis (P=0.012). Patients who had grafts with at least one episode of acute pyelonephritis were significantly younger (P=0.013) than transplanted patients without a history of acute pyelonephritis (44.4±10.5 and 52.2±13.4 years, respectively).

Our study shows a lower incidence of pyelonephritis compared with the literature. Moreover, we found that young age and female gender were risk factors for developing this infection.