TY - JOUR
AB - AbstractThe introduction of cyclosporine A (CyA) into the immunosuppressivetherapy has significantly improved the results of heart transplantation(HTX). Its nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity, however, often limit theperioperative and postoperative use of this drug. The purpose of thisretrospective study was to evaluate the effect of early postoperative CyAblood levels on the incidence of early as well as late cardiac rejectionand patients' survival. Between October 1985 and June 1991, HTX wasperformed in 311 patients. Standard immunosuppression consisted ofazathioprine (1-2 mg/kg), prednisolone (0.5 to 0.1 mg/kg) and CyA.Rabbit-antithymocyte-globulin (RATG - 1.5 mg/kg) was administered for thefirst 4 days postoperatively. Moderate rejection was treated with 3 x 500mg methylprednisolone, severe rejection with RATG (1.5 mg/kg three times aday). Patients were excluded from this study because of a positivecross-matching, early death unrelated to rejection or alternate forms ofimmunosuppression (n = 111). Follow-up was complete in 200 patients (meanage 44 +/- 11; 18 female, 182 male; 204,233 patient days) with a total of5380 biopsies. The cohort was divided into group I (no CyA for day 0 to 2;n = 108) and group II (CyA during day 0 to 2; n = 92) according to theonset of CyA therapy. In 101 patients (group A) the mean CyA blood levelwas less than 150 ng/ml from day 0 to 14 and in 99 patients more than 150ng/ml (group B).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
TI - The impact of early postoperative cyclosporine serum levels on theincidence of cardiac allograft rejection
JO - European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery
DO - 10.1016/1010-7940(93)90214-V
DA - 1993-05-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/the-impact-of-early-postoperative-cyclosporine-serum-levels-on-9efD0RdraZ
SP - 257
EP - 261
VL - 7
IS - 5
DP - DeepDyve
ER -