Impact of immunosuppression treatment on the improvement in graft survival after deceased donor renal transplantation: a long-term cohort study.

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We analyzed graft half-life and attrition rates in 1045 adult deceased donor kidney transplants from 1986-2001, with follow-up to 2011, grouped in two periods (1986-95 vs. 1996-01) according to immunosuppression. The Kaplan-Meier curve showed a significant increase in graft survival during 1996-2001. The uncensored real graft half-life was 10.25 years in 1986-95 and the actuarial was 14.58 years in 1996-2001 (P<0.001). The attrition rates showed a significantly greater graft loss in 1986-95, even excluding the first year from the analysis. The decline in renal function was significantly less pronounced in 1996-2001, indicating better preservation of renal function, despite the increase in donor age and stroke as the cause of donor death. The parsimonious Cox multivariate model showed donor age, acute rejection, panel reactive antibody, cold ischemia time and delayed graft function were significantly associated with a higher risk of graft loss. In contrast, the risk of graft loss fell by 21% in 1996-2001 compared with 1986-95. A similar reduction (25%) was observed when MMF treatment was entered into the multivariate model instead of study period. Long-term graft survival improved significantly in 1996-2001 compared to 1986-1995 despite older donor age. Modern immunosuppression could have contributed to the improved kidney transplant outcome.