A RANDOMIZED MULTICENTER TRIAL OF CYCLOSPORINE AND PREDNISOLONE VERSUS CYCLOSPORINE, AZATHIOPRINE, AND PREDNISOLONE FOLLOWING PRIMARY LIVING DONOR RENAL-TRANSPLANTATION

A total of 195 consecutive recipients of primary living donor renal tr ansplants were randomized to receive either cyclosporin (CyA) and pred nisolone (double therapy) or CyA, prednisolone, and azathioprine (trip le therapy). There was no significant difference in patient or graft s urvival, incidence of acute rejection episodes, or major complications between the groups. The graft survival at 5 years was 71.5 % in patie nts receiving double therapy and 71.6 % in patients receiving triple t herapy. In a Cox regression analysis, recipient age and occurrence of acute rejection were the only independently significant variables affe cting graft survival, whereas treatment schedule did not. Renal functi on was stable throughout the observation period and did not differ bet ween the double and triple therapy groups. A linear regression analysi s showed that recipient age, donor age, gender, and occurrence of acut e rejection significantly influenced the serum creatinine level. This and previous similar prospective studies in cadaveric renal transplant ation indicate that there is no advantage of routinely adding azathiop rine to a double drug regimen.