HLA compatibility and graft survival in 502 kidney transplants

The survival of 502 kidney grafts (458 first-grafts and 44 second-grafts) performed at Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, was analyzed in relation to the degree of HLA compatibility. The actuarial graft survival for first-transplants, at 1 and 5 years, was a follows: a) HLA-identical donor: 90 and 83%; b) one-haplotype identical donor: 68 and 54%; c) unrelated living donor: 61 and 37.5% and d) cadaver donor: 52.5 and 32%. These survival data are similar to those reported by other transplantation groups and confirm the important role of the HLA antigens in the outcome of renal transplantation.