OBJECTIVE: Neurologic complications make a major contribution to morbidity and mortality in kidney transplant recipients. Most occur months or years after transplantation and may never come to the attention of the transplant surgeon. We report 5 cases of neurologic complications in kidney transplant recipients. Three of them were diagnosed as intracranial abscess by central nervous system infection and others were diagnosed as hypertensive encephalopathy. CASES: Three patients with intracranial abscess have experienced mild coughing, intermittent fever and pulmonary infection initially. During the treatment of pulmonary infection they experienced some of neurologic symptoms and signs, such as severe headache, loss of consciousness and dizziness. Brain MRI was performed and showed lesions of intracranial abscess. The etiologic organism were Nocardia in two cases and Staphylococcus epidermidis in one case. They were treated with stereotactic aspiration of abscess and antibiotics therapy. Two of them recovered but eventually one of them didn't recover. Two patients with hypertensive encephalopathy experienced severe headache, visual illusion and generalized seizure at the immediate postoperative period of kidney transplantation. Their systolic pressure was 190~210 mmHg and diastolic pressure was 140~150 mmHg. Brain MRI scan showed hyperintensity signals in T2WI and hypointensity signal in T1WI on bilateral occipital lobes. They were treated with antihypertensive agents and anticonvulsants. Seizure were well controlled and didn't recur. CONCLUSION: Meaningful survival in post-transplant neurologic complications is dependent on rapid diagnosis and initiation of effective treatment.
Abscess ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Anticonvulsants ; Antihypertensive Agents ; Blood Pressure ; Brain ; Brain Abscess ; Central Nervous System Infections ; Cough ; Diagnosis ; Dizziness ; Fever ; Headache ; Humans ; Hypertensive Encephalopathy ; Illusions ; Kidney Transplantation ; Kidney* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mortality ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Nocardia ; Occipital Lobe ; Postoperative Period ; Seizures ; Staphylococcus epidermidis ; Transplantation* ; Unconsciousness

Despite recent improvements in operative techniques, immunosuppression and organ procurement, failure of a hepatic allograft remains an important risk to liver recipients. In the absence of any effective method of extracorporeal support, the only alternative to death for these patients is retransplantation. The causes of hepatic allograft failure were listed as primary nonfunction, technical included hepatic artery thrombosis or portal vein thrombosis, and rejection. Hepatic artery thrombosis remain one of most serious complication after liver transplantation and can be associated with one of three typical syndrome: acute, massive hepatic necrosis, biliary tract necrosis and leakage, relapsing bacteremia. The early diagnosis of hepatic artery thrombosis is very important and screening with duplex ulrtasound can allow the recognition of early hepatic artery thrombosis. The emgent revascularization of hepatic artery thrombosis in asymptomatic patient and retransplantation in symptomatic patient lead to improved graft salvage and patient survival. We report one case of hepatic retransplantation due to hepatic artery thrombosis. The patient with 30 years old man underwent primary hepatic transplantation due to liver cirrhosis with hepatocellular carcinoma. After 6th postoperative day of primary transplantation, liver transaminase began to elevate and not responded to steroid pulse therapy. Thereafter bile leakage, evident in T-tube cholangiogram was noted. Explolaparotomy was performed and showed hepatic artery thrombosis and necrosis of donor aspect of extrahepatic biliary tree. On next day, retransplantation was performed. Thereafter secondary graft function was slowly regained but the patient was recoverd and discharged.
Adult ; Allografts ; Bacteremia ; Bile ; Biliary Tract ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Early Diagnosis ; Hepatic Artery ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Liver ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Transplantation ; Mass Screening ; Massive Hepatic Necrosis ; Necrosis ; Thrombosis ; Tissue and Organ Procurement ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants ; Venous Thrombosis

We report our experience of renal polyomavirus infection after renal allograft leading to graft dysfunction. A fourty seven-years-old male patient, has been on Tacrolimus based dual immunosuppression, showed graft dysfunction with rising serum creatinine at post-transplant day 140. His graft function had been good without any acute rejection episode. A tentative diagnosis of acute rejection was rendered and core needle biopsy was performed. Viral infection was initially suggested by the occurrence of markedly enlarged tubular epithelial cells containing large nuclei with smudgy chromatin pattern. Confirmatory diagnosis of human polyomavirus induced interstitial nephritis was obtained by electron microscopy, which showed viral particles in the nuclei of tubular epithelial cells. After Tacrolimus was converted to cyclosporine, renal function was stabilized. A review of the literature indicates that asymptomatic infection, ureteric stricture, and hemorrhagic cystitis are other possible manifestations of polyomavirus in the human urogenital tract. According to some prior reports, polyomavirus induced interstitial nephritis might be a cause of graft loss. But our patient has retained a stable graft function with a chnange of immunosuppression.
Allografts* ; Asymptomatic Infections ; Biopsy, Large-Core Needle ; Chromatin ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Creatinine ; Cyclosporine ; Cystitis ; Diagnosis ; Epithelial Cells ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Male ; Microscopy, Electron ; Nephritis* ; Nephritis, Interstitial ; Polyomavirus Infections ; Polyomavirus* ; Tacrolimus ; Transplants ; Ureter ; Virion

The ideal sites of vascular access are on the forearm, however, where superficial vein are usually poor due to the chronicity of the disease. Limitation of microsurgical technique forces to use upper arm or synthetic grafts in spite of the presence of small vessels. In this prospective study, we evaluated the success-rate of microsurgical arteriovenous shunt (AVS) using a microscope (M group) and compared the results with those using a loupe ( 3.5, L group) on the 95 patients from October, 1996 to April, 1998. The magnifiers were selected according to the external diameter of the vein, microscope below 1.5 mm. The results of operation were evaluated immediately after operation and were classified by the strength of thrill : strong thrill (ST); week thrill (WT); pulsation (P); none (F). The mean external diameters(mm) of the radial arteries and cephalic veins in both groups were 2.5; 2.3 (L) and 2.0; 1.3 (M), respectively (p<0.05). The immediate results of operation was ST,38; WT,11; P,2; N,0 in L group and ST,34; WT,10; P,1; N,0 in M group, which revealed no significant differences between both groups. After two months of operation, the rates of failure for vascular access were 5.9% (3/51) in L group 6.7% (3/45) in M group. In conclusion, small superficial veins on the wrist below 1.5 mm in diameter can be used successfully for vascular access with microsurgical technique using a surgical microscope.
Arm ; Forearm ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic* ; Microsurgery ; Prospective Studies ; Radial Artery ; Transplants ; Veins ; Wrist*

This study was aimed to explore the relationship between the type of family system and the self-concept of kidney-transplantation recipients. 190 recipients were sampled from 3 general hospitals in Seoul and Kunggi-area, KOREA. Family Cohesion and Adaptability Evaluation Scale III (Olson et al., 1985) of the Circumplex Model (Olson et al., 1983) and Self-concept Test (Jeong, Won Sik, 1968) were used to collect the data. The data collected was analyses by the t-Test and ANOVA. It was found that there were no differences on recipients' self-concepts by types of family systems. But there were differences in recipients' self-concepts by family cohesion and adaptability levels. That is, the higher level of cohesion and adaptability, the higher the recipients' self-concepts. The type of family system and recipients' self-concept are related. So the recipients and the family of recipients must be included in subjects of medical and nursing care.
Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Kidney ; Korea ; Nursing Care ; Seoul ; Transplantation

Pancreas transplantation has became an accepted form of therapy for insulin dependent DM (IDDM). However, rejection remains the major cause of graft loss in pancreas allografts. To overcome the immunologic graft loss following pancreas allograft, early reliable method for rejection is crucial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the significance of urine amylase (UA) levels as a reliable and sensitive indicator of pancreas allograft rejection retrospectively. Over a 15-month study period from August '97 to Cotover '98, 9 pancreas transplants with bladder drainage were performed at our center. Among which 6 pancreas transplantation alone (PTA) and 3 simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPK) were performed. The diagnosis of rejection was based on clinical criteria (fever, tenderness, leukocytosis) and serology such as, a reduction in UA level. Rejection was developed in 5 patients (56%), including 4 PTA and 1 SPK recipients. Mean UA level during normal allograft function was 89,365 U/L, whereas level heralding rejection was 14,760 U/L (P<0.05). After steroid pulse therapy, first rejection episode result in 100% reversal of rejection and the UA level returned toward normal (mean 95,437 U/L). However more than one rejection episode resulted in poor outcome (all the graft were lost). Overall, reversal of rejection occurred in 63% of cases, with 2 PTA and 1 SPK lost due to rejection. Monitoring pancreas-allograft function by UA allows for the timely diagnosis and successful treatment of pancreas-allograft rejection. For more than one rejection episodes, more potent immunosuppressants are through needed to be improve the graft survival.
Allografts* ; Amylases* ; Diagnosis ; Drainage ; Early Diagnosis* ; Graft Survival ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Insulin ; Pancreas Transplantation* ; Pancreas* ; Retrospective Studies ; Transplants ; Urinary Bladder

Many factors can be recognized for the acute rejection such as: degree of HLA mismatching, cytokine gene expression, ischemic time, etc. Some authors have suggested the importance of early routine biopsy of renal allograft to predict acute rejection. This prospective study on renal implantation biopsies was performed to evaluate the relationship between the implantation biopsies and the acute rejection during the immediate post-transplantation period. From December 1996 to February 1998 implantation biopsies were performed on 46 renal allografts within 40~60 minutes after vascular anastomosis using tru-cut needle (18G). Two samples were obtained from transplanted kidney in each patient. Serial sections were stained for the light microscopic examination. The slides were evaluated for histologic features such as interstitial cellular infiltration, nephrosclerosis, tubular damage, glomerular neutrophil count (GL-PMN), and peritubular neutrophil count (PTC-PMN). Forty six biopsies were grouped into acute rejection group (R group, n=10) and non-rejection group (N group, n=36) during immediate posttransplantation period (1 month). Acute rejections were confirmed by ultrasonography guided biopsy. Histologic findings were classified according to Banff schema. The statistical analysis was performed by using Chi-Square Test and Spearman Rank Sum Test. During the immediate post-transplantation period, acute rejection developed in 10 cases (21.7%) of which 9 cases were the biopsy-proven rejection. The male to female ratio was 21:25. Recipients were ranged from 22 to 54 years old with a mean age of 38.2+/- 9.1. Original disease of recipient were chronic glomerulonephritis in 15 cases (32.6%), hypertension in 8 cases, diabetes mellitus in 3 cases, RPGN in 2 cases. Fifteen cases (32.6%) were of unknown etiology. The mean number of HLA mismatches was 4.6+/- 0.9 in R group, 4.7+/- 1.2 in N group, and the mean number of HLA-B & DR mismatches was 2.2+/- 0.4 in R group, 2.3+/- 0.7 in N group. The ratio of the living vs. cadaveric donors was 34:12. No statistical difference was observed between two groups in interstitial cellular infiltration, nephrosclerosis and tubular damage. The GL-PMN was 0.6 0.9 in R group, while 0.1 +/- 0.4 in N group. The PTC-PMN was 5.3+/- 3.3 in R group and 0.3+/- 1.1 in N group (p<0.05). The presence of more than five PTC-PMN count was related with the occurrence of acute rejection (p<0.01). In conclusion, the PTC-PMN of renal implantation biopsies is a possible predicting factor for acute rejection in this preliminary report.
Allografts ; Biopsy* ; Cadaver ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Female ; Gene Expression ; Glomerulonephritis ; HLA-B Antigens ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Kidney ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Needles ; Nephrosclerosis ; Neutrophils ; Prospective Studies ; Tissue Donors ; Ultrasonography

Transplant glomerulopathy (TG) is a special form of glomerular injury in renal allografts. It affects varying proportions of glomeruli, which may have an influence on the amount of proteinuria or graft survival. We reviewed 32 cases of TG to evaluate histologic changes and graft outcome. The severity of TG as well as acute and chronic changes of the glomerular, tubulointerstitial and vascular compartment were scored according to Banff classification. There were 17 cases of cg1, 3 cases of cg2 and 12 cases of cg3. There was no significant difference in age, duration of transplant at time of biopsy and duration of follow-up between groups. Serum creatinine level and the degree of proteinuria were higher in cg3 and statistically significant. However, there was no difference in the degree of glomerulosclerosis, interstitial inflammation, fibrosis, tubular atrophy or vascular wall thickening between groups. Graft failure was present in 13 cases, mostly due to chronic rejection including sepsis and CMV infection in one case each. Five-year graft survival was 84.1% and was not significantly different from cases without TG. In conclusion, the severity of TG indicates profuse proteinuria, but does not affect graft outcome, which indicates tubulointerstitial and vascular pathology as being a more important prognosticator.
Allografts ; Atrophy ; Biopsy ; Classification ; Creatinine ; Fibrosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Graft Survival* ; Inflammation ; Pathology ; Proteinuria* ; Sepsis ; Transplants*

Acute rejection in renal transplantation is a major risk factor threatening the longterm graft survival. Acute rejections refractory to conventional anti-rejection therapy using steroid pulse or antilymphocyte preparations occur in minority, preceding to progressive deterioration of renal function and graft loss. Recent reports showed that tacrolimus rescue therapy in this refractory rejections has converted rejection process. In order to evaluate the clinical outcome of tacrolimus rescue therapy in refractory rejections, we performed a retrospective study. Since April 1997, we performed tacrolimus rescue therapy intent-to-treat for steroid- or OKT3- resistant rejections in 5 patients. All rejections were histologically confirmed according to Banff criteria. As conventional antirejection therapy, steroid pulse therapy (solumedrol 500~1000 mg iv for 3 days) or OKT3 therapy (5 mg/day for 14 days) was performed. The outcome of the rescue therapy is classified into three categories by the change of serum creatinine level or the histologic findings; Improvement-return of serum creatinine level (sCr) to or below the prerejection baseline (nadir) level, Stabilization-arrested sCr increase, Failure-progressive deterioration of renal function, or graft loss. All were men and the mean age was 38 years. Living related- & unrelated-donor transplantation were 2 and 3 cases respectively. Immunosuppression were done with CsA Pd+ (3) or CsA+ Pd+ AZA (2). Acute rejection grades according to Banff criteria were mild (2) or moderate (3). The mean interval between transplantation and tacrolimus conversion was 54.4 days. The outcome was as follows; improvement 2 cases, stabilization 1 case and failure 2 cases. During 3~10 months followup PTLD occured in 1 case, treated with graft nephrectomy and no other complications in other 4 cases. In conclusion, we can convert ongoing refractory rejections to steroid and OKT3 therapy by tacrolimus rescue therapy in 60% (3/5) successfully. Although longterm followup result is necessary to confirm the efficacy and safety of the tacrolimus rescue therapy, the result of this early trial is so good that we may try tacrolimus in refractory rejections for rejection reversal.
Creatinine ; Follow-Up Studies ; Graft Survival ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Male ; Muromonab-CD3 ; Nephrectomy ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Tacrolimus* ; Transplants

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is a novel new immunosuppressant which suppress proliferation of T and B lymphocytes by inhibiting inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase. Even though the results we can get now are still preliminary but the positive result such as low incidence of acute rejection episode, is very attractive to clinical therapist. It also has certain effect on rescue therapy of steroid resistant acute rejection. There is little proven report of long-term follow up of this drug but the improvement of early graft survival suggest better long-term result. From March 1997, we used MMF as one of the primary immunosuppressant with cyclosporine and steroid in 47 renal allograft recipient (MMF group) and the early result of this protocol is compared with control group using conventional two drug regimen (cyclosporine and steroid)in 96 recipients. The 2 g of MMF were given daily from 2nd post-transplant day. The acute rejection episode within 3 and 6 months are 12.1 and 12.8% in MMF group and these are statistically significant difference with the results of control group (36.5% and 38.5% respectively, P<0.005). The response rate of acute rejection to steroid pulse therapy was 66.7% in MMF group but has no statistical difference with that of conventional group (84.1%). Steroid resistant severe acute rejection that needed to use OKT3 was developed in 1 case (2.1%) in MMF group but 7 (7.3%) in control group. Among the complication, post-transplant infection occurred in 6 cases (12.8%) of MMF group but in 8 cases (8.3%) in control group. Diarrhea that needed medication developed in 8 cases of MMF group (17.0%), but only one of them is necessary to change his immunosuppressive regimen. Leukopenia also developed in 1 case of each group. In summary, the incidence of acute rejection episode and steroid resistant rejection that is necessary to use OKT3 is significantly decreased in MMF group but the response rate to steroid pulse therapy and complications of both groups showed no statistical difference.
Allografts* ; B-Lymphocytes ; Cyclosporine ; Diarrhea ; Graft Survival ; Incidence ; Inosine Monophosphate ; Kidney Transplantation ; Kidney* ; Leukopenia ; Muromonab-CD3 ; Oxidoreductases