Forty-eight consecutive patients at high risk for corneal graft rejection were transplanted with corneas from donors selected on the basis of a negative lymphocyte crossmatch, ABO blood group compatibility, and maximized HLA-A, -B matching. Graft survival in this study group was compared to a retrospective control group of 72 consecutive high-risk transplants performed in patients receiving ran...

AIM To establish if coincidental HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DR tissue matching is associated with a reduced likelihood of corneal graft rejection. METHODS Organ culture preserved random donor corneas were used for penetrating keratoplasty (PKP). Corneal tissue from all graft recipients and donors or blood samples from recipients after repeated transplantation were obtained in order to perform retr...

PURPOSE To validate tissue quality parameters for donor corneas designated for emergency grafting for corneal graft survival. METHODS In a longitudinal cohort follow-up study, 131 emergency penetrating grafts were studied. Grafts were performed with a pool of organ-cultured donor corneas designated for emergency grafting and prepared for immediate use with all safety tests performed. Assignat...

Donor-recipient ABO blood group mismatching is associated with a decreased graft survival rate in liver transplantation. We have been unable to demonstrate an effect of high levels of panel reactive antibody or a positive donor-specific cytotoxic antibody cross-match on graft survival. A limited analysis of HLA-matching for the A, B, and DR loci suggests a paradoxical effect, but much more expe...

Small intestine allotransplantation in humans is not yet feasible due to the failure of the current methods of immunosuppression. FK-506, a powerful new immunosuppressive agent that is synergistic with cyclosporine, allows long-term survival of recipients of cardiac, renal, and hepatic allografts. This study compares the effects of FK-506 and cyclosporine on host survival, graft rejection, and ...

INTRODUCTION Post-transplantation proteinuria is a risk factor for graft failure. A progressive decline in renal graft function is a predictor for mortality in kidney transplant patients. OBJECTIVES To assess the development and the progression of urinary protein excretion (UPE) in the first year post-transplant in recipients of kidney transplants and its effect on patient and graft outcomes....

BACKGROUND Long-term outcomes of kidney transplantation recipients with percutaneous ureteral management of transplant ureteral complications are not well characterized. METHODS Electronic records of 1753 recipients of kidney-alone transplant between January 2000 and December 2008 were reviewed. One hundred thirty-one patients were identified to have undergone percutaneous ureteral management...

CD8 T cells are necessary for costimulation blockade-resistant rejection. However, the mechanism by which CD8 T cells mediate rejection in the absence of major costimulatory signals is poorly understood. IFN-gamma promotes CD8 T cell-mediated immune responses, but IFN-gamma-deficient mice show early graft loss despite costimulation blockade. In contrast, we found that IFN-gamma receptor knockou...

The goal of this review is to highlight the significant improvements, over the past four decades, in outcomes after a pancreas transplant alone (PTA) in patients with brittle diabetes and recurrent episodes of hypoglycemia and/or hypoglycemic unawareness. A successful PTA-in contrast to intensive insulin regimens and insulin pumps-restores normoglycemia without the risk of hypoglycemia and prev...

Background. H-Y antigen incompatibility adversely impacts bone marrow transplants however, the relevance of these antigens in kidney transplantation is uncertain. Three previous retrospective studies of kidney transplant databases have produced conflicting results. Methods. This study analyzed the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network database between 1997 and 2009 using male deceased d...