Urinary cytologic changes after radiotherapy of renal transplants

Significant changes in the urinary cellular pattern can be attributed to renal allograft radiation, as distinct from those associated with immunologic rejection of the transplated kidney. These changes consist of nuclear multiplicity, wrinkling of the nuclear membrane, a "coffee bean" appearance of the nucleus, and increase in nuclear size, areas of decreased density and vacuolation of the cytoplasm, and perinuclear halos. The severity of the changes was categorized as "mild", "moderate", or "marked", according to the number of the above changes which were present, and was more evident in cells of transitional epithelial origin than of tubular origin. Some correlation was found between the severity of the cellular radiation changes and the survival time of the kidney.