Renal graft rejection and blood transfusion before and during the transplant operation

The outcome of 390 consecutive primary cadaveric renal transplantations in a single centre was studied with regard to blood transfusions before and during the transplant operation. The graft loss due to rejection was 38% at 12 months in the transfused group compared to 67% in the non-transfused group (p less than 0.0005). When peroperative transfusions were added to patients in the previously transfused group, the graft loss was reduced to 34% compared to 50% if no peroperative blood was given (p less than 0.05).