Factors influencing short-term and long-term pediatric renal transplant survival.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the patient and donor characteristics important for short-term and long-term renal transplant survival at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

METHODS: Cumulative transplant survival was calculated and univariate analysis of graft survival performed on 206 transplants done since 1970 in 148 pediatric patients. Grafts to black recipients were analyzed separately. Short-term graft survival is defined as 1-year allograft survival and long-term graft survival as graft half-life (t1/2) survival for allografts functioning after the first posttransplant year.

RESULTS: One-year graft survival of living-related donor (LRD) and cadaver donor (CAD) transplants was 77% and 62%, respectively. Graft t1/2 was 11.2 years for LRD and 9.8 years for CAD grafts. The CAD 1-year graft survival when the recipient or donor was younger than 7 years was 36% and 41%, respectively. The LRD 1-year graft survival to children younger than 7 years was 88% versus 75% in older children. Graft survival at 1 year was similar for CAD primary and retransplants (60% vs 65%), but graft t1/2 better for CAD primary grafts (17.8 years vs 5.0 years, P < 0.001). Preemptive LRD grafts performed similarity at 1 year and better over the long term compared with patients who had long-term dialysis (85% vs 74%, P = NS; and 16.9 years vs 8.0 years, p < 0.001). Preemptive CAD grafts did poorly, with 1-year graft survival of 38%. Administration of Cyclosporine A (CsA) improved CAD 1-year graft survival (76% vs 54%, p < 0.001) but not long-term survival. Thirty grafts to 24 black children had a 1-year survival of 48%, with no graft surviving more than 5 years.

CONCLUSIONS: Living-related donor transplantation should be aggressively pursued for young children. If a LRD is unavailable and the young child's medical condition is stable, delay in CAD transplantation should be considered, with dialysis before transplant. Use of CsA improves 1-year pediatric graft survival, but does not improve graft survival after 1 year at the Children's Hospital Medical Center. New strategies to improve graft survival in black children should be pursued.