Steroids and rejection treatment in the Gothenburg transplant programme

Our experience from the Gothenburg material indicates that the graft prognosis is highly dependent on pretransplant blood transfusions, to a lesser degree on avoidance of two mismatches for the HLA-B-locus and, not the least, on the use of methylprednisolone antirejection therapy. It seems that a rather moderate dosage of methylprednisolone allows us to prolong and repeat the courses according to individual needs, and this may be the main reason for the significantly improved graft function at one year. The experiences gained and the lessons learned from the transplant programme in Gothenburg have resulted in 70% of the uraemic patients in the Gothenburg region being alive with functioning renal transplants.