RECURRENCE OF THE ORIGINAL DISEASE - DOES THIS INFLUENCE RENAL GRAFT FAILURE

Recurrence of the original disease in the renal graft occurs frequentl y, but it seldom leads to graft failure. In patients with glomerulonep hritis as the original disease, graft survival is lower than in patien ts with non-recurring diseases. Since the use of cyclosporine the actu arial graft survival of both groups became identical. Analysis of the data indicates a nonspecific action of cyclosporine, possibly on the g lomerular hemodynamics. The risk of recurrence is higher with living d onors. The multiplicity of the factors involved make it difficult to d etermine the risk of recurrence in an individual patient on the basis of the general data from the literature.