title: Efficacy and safety of low-dose everolimus as maintenance immunosuppression in cardiac transplant recipients.
abstract: For cardiac transplant (CTx) recipients, the recommended everolimus (EVL) dose is 0.75 mg bid or 1.5 mg bid and the target trough blood level is 3-8 μg/L. We studied a cohort of 56 CTx patients with chronic kidney disease receiving 0.75 mg bid EVL to maintain blood levels of 5-8 ug/L (designated RD group) and a cohort of 51 CTx patients with chronic kidney disease receiving 0.5 mg bid to maintain blood levels of 3-5 ug/L (designated LD group). The primary endpoint was a composite of death, rejection and premature EVL discontinuation up to 1 year after introduction of EVL. The primary endpoint was reached by 32% of patients in the LD group and by 41.1% of patients in the RD group (P = 0.361). Biochemical safety parameters were comparable in both groups. Our results indicate that low-dose EVL may be as effective and safe as regular dose EVL.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart and Diabetes Center North Rhine-Westphalia, Ruhr University Bochum, Georgstraße 11, 32545 Bad Oeynhausen, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zittermann
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Jan F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Gummert