title: Causes of death in renal transplant recipients. A review of autopsy findings from 1966 through 1985.
abstract: From 1966 through 1985, a total of 640 patients received 739 renal transplants at a single center transplantation program. Of 245 total deaths, a slide and chart review of all 116 autopsied cases (47%) identified the major causes of death as pneumonia (n = 43), sepsis (n = 32), hemorrhage (n = 15), peritonitis (n = 11), meningitis (n = 7), and pulmonary embolism (n = 5). Eighty-five (73.3%) of these patients died of complications directly associated with immunosuppression, almost all (n = 82) as a result of infection. Organisms most frequently identified at death were gram-negative bacilli (n = 72), Candida species (n = 23), cytomegalovirus (n = 17), enterococcus (n = 14), Staphylococcus aureus (n = 11), Aspergillus species (n = 10), Pneumocystis carinii (n = 5), and mycobacteria (n = 5). Significant associations were found between bolus steroid antirejection therapy and infection with Aspergillus cytomegalovirus. Diabetics had a higher incidence of fungal infections and bowel perforation than nondiabetics. During this 20-year period, overall one-year actual patient survival rates for the four respective five-year intervals increased dramatically (69.9%, 68.2%, 83.3%, and 91.8%), but the normalized death rate showed a smaller decrease for infectious vs noninfectious causes.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Scroggs
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Wolfe
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Bollinger
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sanfilippo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000401:mortality; D002648:Child; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000601:surgery*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009181:Mycoses / Q000401:mortality; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality*