title: Pediatric renal transplantation without steroids.
abstract: Pediatric renal transplant patients present a number of challenges and problems, especially the inhibited post-transplant growth seen in children receiving standard immunosuppressive triple therapy that includes steroids. We report the successful use of steroid-free immunosuppression since 1990 in 14 pediatric renal allograft recipients who received a 10-day initial course of anti-lymphocyte globulin and surface area-adjusted doses of cyclosporine, 7 of whom also received mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) as maintenance immunosuppression. Only 1 patient died (3 months after transplantation as a result of a primary Epstein-Barr virus infection-induced lymphoproliferative disorder), 1 patient's graft never functioned, and another patient lost his graft after 3 years because of chronic rejection. Three patients experienced early acute cellular rejection, which resolved in 2 cases with OKT3, and in the 3rd with MMF. There were no late acute rejections. All patients evidenced growth and a growth spurt under this regimen. We conclude that all the pediatric patients benefited from our steroid-free protocol and that this protocol is superior to conventional triple therapies, which entail the eventual reduction and discontinuation of steroids, a procedure that not only inhibits growth but also carries an additional risk of acute rejection due to a steroid-adapted immune response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Tissue Culture Laboratory, Odense University Hospital, Denmark.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Birkeland
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rohr
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002496:Central Venous Pressure / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D006128:Growth / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009173:Mycophenolic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013256:Steroids / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D013256:Steroids; D016572:Cyclosporine; D009173:Mycophenolic Acid