Outcome of Renal Transplantation in Alport's Syndrome: A Single-Center Experience

Abstract

BackgroundAnti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) nephritis post–renaltransplantation (RTx) is known to cause graft loss in Alport's syndrome (AS). We evaluated theresults of RTx in AS patients vis à vis patient and graft survivals, incidence of anti-GBM nephritis, andcauses of graft failure. Materials and methodsBetween 1993 and 2009 we performed 31 RTx on AS patients (28 males and three females)of overall mean age of 22 ± 7.9 yearsfrom six deceased and 27 living donors. Two patients underwent second RTx. ResultsOver a follow-up of 1, 3, 5, and10 years, the mean serum creatinines (mg/dL) were 1.51 ± 0.52, 1.59 ± 0.26, 1.61 ± 0.30, and 1.63 ±0.32, respectively. Patient survivals at 1, 5, and 10 years were 89.71%, 81.32% and 81.32% withgraft survival for all periods of 81.2%. Twenty-one percent experienced biopsy-proven acute rejection episodes. Graftfailures were due to anti-GBM nephritis in 12.2% (n = 4), chronic allograft nephropathy in 3.2%(n = 1), and acute rejection or cyclosporine toxicity 3.2% (n = 1 each). The mean duration to graftloss was 4.9 ± 2.4 months. ConclusionGraft and patientsurvivals were acceptable among transplant recipients with AS despite the risk of anti-GBM nephritis.