Tonsillectomy ameliorates histological damage of recurrent immunoglobulin A nephropathy after kidney transplantation.
OBJECTIVE
Recurrence of immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy (IgAN) after renal transplantation is important as a cause of graft failure under improving rejection control. However, no specific therapy for recurrent IgAN is currently available. In this study, we evaluated the histological efficacy of tonsillectomy for allograft IgAN.


METHODS
Fifteen kidney recipients (male 9, female 6, mean age 40.9 ± 9.3 years), who received a diagnosis of IgA nephropathy by allograft biopsy, were enrolled in this study. Tonsillectomy was performed 44.1 ± 27.1 months after the kidney transplantation. All patients underwent a repeat graft biopsy at 23.8 ± 15.8 months after tonsillectomy.


RESULTS
Six patients had microhematuria before tonsillectomy. At 12 months after treatment, the microhematuria disappeared in five of these patients and one patient had mild hematuria. Three patients had severe proteinuria (more than 1.0 g/gCr) before tonsillectomy and improved after treatment. On histological analysis, four patients had acute lesions including cellular or fibrocellular crescents. The acute lesions disappeared after these treatments in all patients. Eleven patients had chronic lesions including global sclerosis, segmental sclerosis and fibrous crescents. The chronic lesion was ameliorated in six patients, unchanged in three and deteriorated in two patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Tonsillectomy improves not only clinical findings but also ameliorates histological damage caused by recurrent IgAN after kidney transplantation. Tonsillectomy is a novel and effective treatment for recurrent IgAN.
Department of Kidney Transplant Surgery, Sapporo City General Hospital, Sapporo, Japan; Department of Urology, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, Japan.
Kiyohiko
K
Hotta
Yuichiro
Y
Fukasawa
Mayuko
M
Akimoto
Tatsu
T
Tanabe
Hajime
H
Sasaki
Nobuyuki
N
Fukuzawa
Toshimori
T
Seki
Masaki
M
Togashi
Hiroshi
H
Harada
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005922:Glomerulonephritis, IGA / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D014068:Tonsillectomy
allograft; immunoglobulin A nephropathy; kidney; tonsillectomy; transplantation