title: Two doses of daclizumab with delayed introduction of low-dose tacrolimus in elderly recipients of cadaveric renal transplants from donors >55 years of age.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Renal transplants from elderly donors have a high incidence of delayed graft function, which can be increased by the initial use of calcineurin inhibitors. Our purpose was to assess the safety and efficacy of an immunosuppressive regimen using anti-IL-2R antibodies and MMF that allows delayed introduction of low-dose tacrolimus using elderly donors to elderly recipients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This observational study involved 13 transplant centers. In total there were 119 patients (age 60.5 +/- 6.6 years, range 50 to 77) who received a kidney from a donor of mean age 64 +/- 5 years (range 55 to 76), 94% of whom died from a CVA. Immunosuppression consisted of daclizumab (1 mg/kg in two doses; preoperatively and on day 14) combined with steroids, mycophenolate mofetil (initial dose of 2 g/d), and tacrolimus (0.1 mg/kg per day). Tacrolimus was introduced before day 7 (mean 5.5 days) and adjusted to a target level of 5 to 8 ng/mL. The mean follow-up was 8 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two grafts were lost due to primary nonfunction and acute rejection and 48 patients (40%) required dialysis due to delayed graft function, although it was generally of short duration (median 4 days; only 2 cases >2 weeks). Acute rejection occurred in 16 patients (13.4%), of whom 13 were biopsy-confirmed (10.9%; Banff 1997 grades I and II). Three patients withdrew from the study, and three died (sepsis, accident, and cardiovascular event). The remaining 111 patients continued follow-up, with a median creatinine value of 1.5 mg/dL at 12-months. Eighty-six percent of patients had at least one episode of infection, half of which were urinary tract infections. There were 16 cases of CMV infection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the initial results, our immunosuppressive regimen seems to offer good short-term renal function while maintaining an acceptable rejection rate and a low incidence of serious infections.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Nefrología, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain. aoo@arrakis.es
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Osuna
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gentil
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Capdevila
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cantarell
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mazuecos
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Algarra
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: González-Molina
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D002102:Cadaver; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood; D000077561:Daclizumab; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014019:Tissue Donors
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D003404:Creatinine; D000077561:Daclizumab; D016559:Tacrolimus