Photochemical donor pretreatment in clinical kidney transplantation--preliminary report.
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.
Oesterwitz
H
H
Department of Urology, Humboldt University (Charité), Berlin, German Democratic Republic.
Scholz
D
D
Kaden
J
J
May
G
G
Mebel
M
M
Schirrow
R
R
Blank
W
W
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008875:Middle Aged; D011701:PUVA Therapy; D014019:Tissue Donors