title: Cadaveric renal transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh: a two and one-half-year experience with the point system.
abstract: From January 1, 1986 to July 30, 1988, 530 consecutive cadaver kidney transplantations were performed with patient selection by a point system that took into account time awaiting an organ, donor-recipient matching, degree of presensitization, and some less important factors. The effect of the system was to diminish judgmental factors in case selection which in the past, had probably operated to the disadvantage of "undesirable" potential recipients, including older ones. Primary 1-year graft survival (74%) and graft survival after retransplantation (71%) were lower than in the earlier time. However, the results with triple-drug therapy using CsA, AZA and P demonstrated 88% 1-year graft survival for primary graft recipients and 74% in highly sensitized patients, with comparable patient mortality. These latter observations provide some assurance that the concepts of equitable access and efficient utilization of a scarce resource are not mutually exclusive.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Health Center, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Tzakis
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Hakala
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lopatin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Koneru
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stieber
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Starzl
mesh_terms: D000206:Actuarial Analysis; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000379:methods; D007223:Infant; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010414:Pennsylvania / Q000453:epidemiology; D012086:Reoperation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015996:Survival Rate