Diabetic nephropathy after renal transplantation. Clinical and pathologic features

The histologic diagnosis of diabetic glomerulosclerosis was made in 14 renal transplant recipients. All 14 had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, which was the original cause of end-stage renal disease in 12; one patient had membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis and another patient had membranous nephropathy as the cause of end-stage renal disease. Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus was diagnosed at an average age of 18.5 years (range, 8-41 years), and the mean duration of diabetes prior to transplantation was 15 years (range, 2-25 years). All patients were recipients of first kidney transplants (six living related donors and eight cadavers). The histologic diagnosis of diabetic glomerulosclerosis was made on average, 97 months after transplantation (range 41-154 months). All 14 patients had proteinuria (mean 5.3 g/24 hr; range 1.1-12 g/24 hr) and renal dysfunction (mean serum creatinine level, 2.8 mg/dl). Patient and graft survival rates at 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years after transplantation were 100%, 92%, and 59%, and 100%, 92%, and 34%, respectively. Graft failure was due to diabetic nephropathy in seven patients, diabetic nephropathy and membranous nephropathy in one patient, and death due to a cerebrovascular accident in one patient. A total of five patients are alive with a functioning kidney. Of the eight patients who returned to dialysis, four are alive, three remain on dialysis, and 1 had a combined kidney and pancreas transplant. Histologic findings were as follows: 9/14 had moderate or severe diffuse glomerular basement membrane thickening and 2/14 had nodular glomerulosclerosis. Arteriolar lesions were prominent in all cases and was graded moderate or severe in 11 cases. The development of allograft diabetic nephropathy is associated with a high rate of allograft failure.