title: Blood pressure profile and treatment quality in liver allograft recipients-benefit of tacrolimus versus cyclosporine.
abstract: Organ transplant recipients display a high cardiovascular mortality rate. The type of immunosuppression has a major impact on cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., hypertension [HTN]). We assessed 24-hour blood pressure (BP) and metabolic profiles in a cohort of 106 long-term liver allograft recipients treated with either tacrolimus (Tac) or cyclosporine (CyA). The median age of patients was 50.8 years (range, 11 to 77) and the median time of follow-up was 65.4 months (ranges 12 to 168). Immunosuppression included low-dose steroids and either Tac (n = 46) or CyA (n = 60). Twenty-four-hour BP measurements revealed a significant difference in systolic BP (127.1 mmHg [94 to 163] Tac versus 132.7 mmHg [103 to 177] CyA; P <.03), and in mean arterial and diastolic blood pressures. In addition, the relative number of normotensive patients was significantly higher among Tac-treated patients (69.6% versus 34.8%). It is of note that the true incidence of HTN was higher after the number of patients with a pathological 24-h BP measurement was added to the initial number of patients already known to have HTN. No less than 76.4% of all long-term liver transplanted patients showed HTN. The results were unrelated to cumulative steroid dosage, frequency of antirejection therapy or underlying primary liver disease. In summary, immunosuppression-induced HTN is more common in CyA-treated than Tac-based regimens. Moreover, we found a substantial lack of detection of HTN in long-term liver transplant patients who received an insufficient quality of antihypertensive treatment. These findings have implications for the early diagnosis and treatment of HTN in liver transplant recipients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, University of Heidelberg, Germany. ralf_dikow@med.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dikow
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Degenhard
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kraus
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sauer
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schemmer
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Uhl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Büchler
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeier
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D017741:Survivors; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016572:Cyclosporine; D016559:Tacrolimus