DIETARY FISH-OIL IN RENAL-TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS TREATED WITH CYCLOSPORINE-A - NO BENEFICIAL-EFFECTS SHOWN

This study aimed to determine whether dietary supplementation with fis h oil has a beneficial effect on graft function and the incidence of r ejection in renal allograft recipients treated with cyclosporin A (CsA ). Renal function, blood pressure, the incidence of acute rejection ep isodes, graft survival, and renal histology and immunochemistry were i nvestigated. In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial, groups of 25 recipients of primary cadaveric renal allografts who had been treated with CsA took fish oil (30% C20:5 omega-3 and 20% C22:6 o mega-3) or coconut oil (63% C8:0 and 36% C10:0) at 6 g/day for 3 month s. There were no differences between the two patient groups with regar d to HLA matching, panel-reactive antibody titers, or the demographic characteristics of donors or recipients. The GFR and effective RPF wer e determined at 1, 3, and 12 months after transplantation by simultane ous measurement of (I-125-)iothalamate and (I-131-)hippuran clearances . At 1 yr after transplantation, patients treated with fish oil showed better renal function than did the control patients, but this differe nce was not statistically significant. Blood pressure and antihyperten sive drug use were similar in both groups. The number of rejection epi sodes was also similar, and renal histopathological and immunohistoche mical studies showed no significant differences between the fish-oil g roup and the control patients. It is concluded that fish oil, at a dos e of 6 g/day, has no beneficial effect after renal transplantation wit hin the time scale of the study.