Cyclosporin-A experience in Eurotransplant--preliminary data

Since 1981, more and more transplant centres collaborating within the Eurotransplant Organization started to use Cyclosporin-A (CsA) as part of their immunosuppressive protocols. Although these protocols differ from centre to centre it was felt important to study the clinical significance of CsA on renal allograft survival, especially with regard to other relevant but more constant factors such as HLA-A, -B and -DR matching, pretransplant blood transfusions, ischemia times, etc. This study encompasses 3150 transfused kidney transplant recipients of whom 765 have received CsA. Analysis shows that the group of CsA treated patients had a significantly better graft survival as compared to the non-CsA treated patients i.e., 71% versus 62% at 2 years respectively. The best kidney graft survival was obtained in the HLA-DR well matched donor-recipients combinations even when CsA was used (79% at 2 years). A significant adverse effect of prolonged cold ischemia times was observed when CsA was administered.