Oral versus intravenous high-dose steroid treatment of renal allograft rejection. The big shot or not?
50 episodes of renal allograft rejection were treated by oral prednisolone and 49 by intravenous methylprednisolone. Both treatments achieved reversal of rejection in approximately 60% of episodes. Morbidity-rates, as assessed by hypertension, oliguria, fluid retention, and infection, tended to be greater after oral treatment. When the results were reexamined for accelerated, acute, and chronic rejection episodes the only difference demonstrated was an increased frequency of fluid retention in patients treated by oral prednisolone for an acute rejection episode. There was no evidence that intravenous methylprednisolone was nephrotoxic.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000284:Administration, Oral; D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous / Q000379:methods; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D011239:Prednisolone; D008775:Methylprednisolone