[Is a monthly biochemical check-up useful more than 2 years after kidney transplantation?]

Over the course of the years many transplantation centres have altered their pattern of periodical check-ups in patients with stable renal function, in some cases considerably prolonging the intervals. Peripheral centres, which are attended by patients after kidney transplantation, must reconcile the follow-up requirements made by various reference centres. The authors carried out a retrospective evaluation of 39 patients who, at 30-6-1992, had had kidney transplants for more than two years, taking into consideration a series of hematochemical tests indicative of the main functional alterations (creatininemia, hepatic enzymes, hemochrome, cyclosporin assay). In the 31 patients receiving monthly check-ups after the second year, changes in cyclosporinemia were on average significantly more frequent in comparison to variations in other parameters. This finding, together with the need for a careful control of transplant patients, would appear to confirm the value of monthly check-ups. However, the positive experience of some centres which begin to space out periodical check-ups at an early stage and report good organ survival, opposes the previous affirmation. Lastly, it emerges from this study that patients undergoing frequent controls even after the second year of transplantation have significantly lower organ survival.