Vasa recta hyalinosis reflects severe arteriolopathy in renal allografts

We examined the clinicopathologic significance of hyalinosis in the vasa recta in the medulla of allograft kidney biopsies.

We analyzed biopsy specimens from January 2010 to December 2015, obtained from both the cortex and medulla (including the vasa recta) ≥ 1 year after living-donor kidney transplantation. We excluded biopsy specimens from recipients who had undergone transplantation due to diabetic nephropathy or who had diabetes mellitus after transplantation. We evaluated hyaline arteriolopathy in the cortex using the aah score determined by the Banff 2007 classification.

Among 381 biopsy specimens obtained from 248 transplant recipients ≥ 1 year after transplantation, 36 specimens obtained from 34 recipients showed vasa recta hyalinosis (VRH) in the medulla. Among these 36 specimens, 17 had a score of aah3, 16 had a score of aah2, and 3 had a score of aah1. The incidence of VRH was 1.9% at ≥ 1 to < 4 years, 7.1% at ≥ 4 to < 8 years, and 50.0% at ≥ 8 years. The aah scores and the proportion of hyalinosis in the arteriolar media among all muscular arterioles in the cortex were significantly higher in the VRH group at ≥ 8 years in the late-phase biopsy (P < 0.01). The graft survival was worse in the VRH group (P = 0.024), although there was no significant difference in the graft survival between the ≥ aah2 and < aah2 groups at ≥ 8 years in the late-phase biopsy (P = 0.159).

VRH in renal allografts reflects severe arteriolopathy of the cortex. VRH in the late-phase biopsy may be a prognostic factor for graft survival.