OUTCOME OF LIVE RELATED AND LIVE UNRELATED RENAL-TRANSPLANTS

This study compares the outcomes of 229 renal transplants, of which 15 6 were live related renal transplants done at our centre and 73 unrela ted transplants done at other centres but followed up at our centre. A ll the patients were on triple immunosuppression for periods varying b etween 9 months and 1 year. Patient characteristics, rejections, infec tions and 1 and 5 years patient and graft survival were analyzed in th e two groups. The outcome of patients who continued on cyclosporine be yond 1 year was compared to those who discontinued cyclosporine at 1 y ear. Males predominated (191 vs 38) in both groups, while younger pati ents (<50 years) predominated in live related group (152 us four). The re was no difference in the incidence of infection, rejection, graft d ysfunction, graft loss or death between the two groups. The 1 and 5 ye ar patient survival in the related and unrelated group, (93.7% and 71. 4% us and 85% and 66%) and graft survival (90.4% and 69.4% us 83.3% an d 65.4%) were similar. However, in the unrelated group, patients who d iscontinued cyclosporine had a higher incidence of rejections (38% us 14%) and graft loss (43% vs 11.8%), while in the related group no such difference was found. It is concluded that 1 and 5 year patient and g raft survival is comparable between live related and live unrelated tr ansplantation. However, in the unrelated group it is necessary to cont inue cyclosporine beyond 1 year in order to achieve comparable results .