Ten-year appraisal of pediatric renal allograft biopsies: Points to ponder

There is paucity of literature on pediatric renal allograft biopsy (RAB) evaluation. We present RAB findings of pediatric renal transplantation (RT) and correlate with outcome. This is a 10-year retrospective study of diagnostic RAB of children <12 years divided in to three groups: Group 1 (n = 9): less than haplo-match living donor RT (LDRT), Group 2 (n = 32): greater than or equal to haplo-match LDRT, and Group 3 (n = 7): deceased donor RT. Demographics, biopsy findings, survival, and serum creatinine (SCr) were evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20.0. The most common findings were antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) observed in 77.7%, 45%, and 71.5% and T-cell-mediated rejections (TCMRs) in 33.3%, 52.5%, and 42.9% in Groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Recurrent oxalosis was seen in 5% in Group 2. Death-censored graft survival was 100% at 1 year and 43.8% from 5 to 9 years in Group 1; 93.5%, 76.6%, 56.5%, and 14.4% at 1, 5, 10, and 15 years in Group 2; 100% at one year; and 71.4% from 5 to 12 years in Group 3. No patient appeared after 9 years in Group 1 and after 12 years in Group 3. In Group 1, the mean SCr (mg/dL) was 1.06 ± 0.45, 2.12 ± 1.87, and 1.39 at 1, 5, and 9 years; 1.35 ± 0.97, 1.73 ± 1.15, and 2.49 ± 1.64 in Group 2; and 1.15 ± 1.24, 1.43 ± 0.1, and 1.18 ± 0.06, respectively, in Group 3 at 1, 5, and 10 years posttransplant. ABMR followed by TCMR was the most common injury in all the groups. Group 1 had more rejections than others.