title: Photochemical donor pretreatment in clinical kidney transplantation--preliminary report.
abstract: Extended experimental experience with the efficacy of pretreating the kidney donor and the allograft by means of photochemotherapy (photosensitizer + UVA irradiation = PUVA) was adopted in clinical kidney transplantation. In a preliminary unrandomized study similar patient populations were treated by generally uniform methods. Thirty-three PUVA-pretreated kidneys (group A) were compared with the experience regarding 26 non-pretreated kidney allografts (group B). The number of rejection episodes was significantly lower in the first 3 months in group A (p less than 0.05 vs group B) and fewer grafts failed because of irreversible rejection (2 vs 5). Furthermore, in group A the rate of infectious complications was lower (18% vs 34%). The cumulative allograft survival at 3 months was improved from 65% in group B to 81% in group A and at 12 months from 65% 76%, respectively. These differences were not significant. Therefore, our preliminary clinical experience with a photochemical donor pretreatment is encouraging and further use in a randomized study seems to be necessary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Humboldt University (Charité), Berlin, German Democratic Republic.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oesterwitz
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scholz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaden
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mebel
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schirrow
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Blank
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008875:Middle Aged; D011701:PUVA Therapy; D014019:Tissue Donors