Clinical assessment of trough levels for monitoring of rejection in cyclosporine-treated kidney transplant recipients.
We evaluated whether trough cyclosporine (CYA) level monitoring was useful in the diagnosis of rejection within 2 weeks after transplantation. Rejection occurred in 14 out of 17 patients (82.3%) treated with CYA, mizoribine (MZR) and prednisolone (Pred) when trough CYA levels dropped below 70 ng/ml, suggesting the importance of trough level monitoring. When anti-lymphocyte globulin (ALG) was added to the 3 above-mentioned drugs, however, rejection occurred in only 1 patient (6.7%) and 2 patients (13.3%), respectively, within 1 week and 1-2 weeks after transplantation, suggesting that trough level monitoring is less important in patients treated with these 4 drugs.
Department of Urology, Osaka University Medical School, Japan.
S
S
Takahara
M
M
Namiki
Y
Y
Kokado
H
H
Kameoka
A
A
Okuyama
D000963:Antimetabolites / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001379:Azathioprine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000963:Antimetabolites; D005938:Glucocorticoids; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016572:Cyclosporine; D011239:Prednisolone; D001379:Azathioprine