Kidney transplantation under FK 506

Article Abstract:

After organ transplantation, the recipient is treated with drugs that suppress the immune system, because the body's natural tendency is to attack the new organ, which it recognizes as foreign. If the immune system is not adequately suppressed, the transplanted organ will be rejected, and the transplant will be a failure. This study evaluated a new immunosuppressive medication, FK 506, in 36 patients who received kidney transplants. Most of these patients were at high risk for complications because of their complex medical problems or history of multiple organ transplants. Ten of the subjects had a previous kidney transplantation that failed, and six had a previous liver transplant. Four patients received a liver transplant at the same time as the current kidney transplant, and two received a third organ (a heart and a pancreas, respectively) along with the kidney and liver. All 36 patients received FK 506 after the kidney transplantation surgery; the dosage was increased if a rejection episode was suspected or decreased if drug toxicity occurred. The patients were followed for 4 to 13 months, and at the end of follow-up, 34 of 36 were alive. Twenty-nine (81 percent) did not require dialysis (filtering of the blood through a machine, used in kidney failure), and most had good kidney function. Only one transplanted kidney was lost because of rejection. The side effects of FK 506 were similar to those of cyclosporine, a commonly used immunosuppressive drug, but were apparently not as severe as with cyclosporine. The results are considered encouraging, in that FK 506 seems sufficiently safe and effective and fairly free of side effects; more studies of the use of this drug in kidney transplant recipients are warranted. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Drug therapy, Kidneys, Kidney transplantation, Immunosuppressive agents

---

Extended preservation of human liver grafts with UW solution

Article Abstract:

A study of 185 cadaveric liver homografts, which were preserved for between four and 24 hours with University of Wisconsin (UW) solution, was performed and the results were compared to 180 consecutive grafts that had been preserved between three and 9.5 hours with conventional Euro-Collins solution. Although the UW livers were preserved almost twice as long on average as the Euro-Collins livers, UW-preserved transplants were more likely to be successful. UW-preserved transplants had patient survival rates equal to Euro-Collins, lower nonfunction rates, lower rates of retransplantation, and fewer blood clot obstructions of the artery supplying the liver. No correlation between the length of preservation in UW solution up to 24 hours and liver function abnormalities in the first week after transplantation was found. However, it was noted that livers preserved in Euro-Collins solution for over five hours were much more likely to function abnormally. Thus, UW solution could have a revolutionary impact on liver transplantation.

Methods, Liver, Liver transplantation, Preservation of organs, tissues, etc., Organ preservation, Homografts, Liver function tests

---

Transplantation of multiple abdominal viscera

Article Abstract:

Two young children who could not absorb vital nutrients because of liver failure and removal of large portions of their intestines wre surgically treated by evisceration and subesquent transplantation of the stomach, small intestine, colon, pancreas, and liver. On patient died soon after the surgery, but the second lived for more than six months before dying of a proliferative white blood cell disease caused by infection with an Epstein-Barr-associated virus. Cyclosporine, an immunosuppressive agent was used following surgery to prevent rejection of the transplanted organs. The graft in this child never showed evidence of rejection or graft-vs-host disease. At autopsy, the transplanted organ structure was still intact.

Analysis, Surgery, Liver failure, Malabsorption syndromes, Cyclosporine, Cyclosporins, Graft versus host reaction, Graft vs. host disease, Pediatric surgery, Viscera, Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc. in children

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Organ transplantation-how much of the promise has been realized? Allogenic bone marrow transplantation with co-stimulatory blockade induces macrochimerism and tolerance without cytoreductive host treatment
• Abstracts: Indinavir crystallization around the loop of Henle: experimental evidence. Increasing incidence of avascular necrosis of the hip in HIV-infected patients
• Abstracts: DRGs in operation: one hospital's story. Capital costs, calculation of prices principal issues in DRG legislation
• Abstracts: Brief report: primary infection with zidovudine-resistant human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Progressive disease due to ganciclovir-resistant cytomegalovirus in immunocompromised patients
• Abstracts: Diagnosis of deep-vein thrombosis using objective doppler method. Detection of deep-vein thrombosis by real-time B-mode ultrasonography

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.