background: accurate and rapid assessment of allograft function is essential in renal transplant recipients in order to detect allograft rejection and to monitor drug nephrotoxicity. we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of cystatin c as a marker of kidney allograft function in the early post-transplant period and to compare this value with that of conventional serum creatinine concentration.   m...

We appreciate Dr. Brennan and colleagues’ novel observation that shedding of urinary tract JC polyomavirus (JCV) associates with reduced rates of acute renal allograft rejection.1 Bacterial urinary tract infections trigger acute rejection and non-JC viral infections may do the same. This finding further supports protective effects of urinary tract JCV on CKD and APOL1 gene-JCV interactions redu...

JO. Rice, J.J. Curtis, M. Botero-Velez, The University of A case of selective kidney allograft rejection with Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Medicine, stable pancreas function in a patient who received Division of Nephrology, Birmingham, AL simultaneous kidney-pancreas allograft from the D.A. Laskow, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, same donor is reported. Pancreas function was De...

Allograft dysfunction is a common problem after kidney transplant. Allograft rejection is an important entity, and timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment are essential for caring transplant recipients. Hyperacute rejection is mediated by the preformed donor specific antibody, while accelerated acute rejection represents an anamnestic response by memory B and T cells. They occur early after ...

Graft failure of kidneys after transplantation is most often the consequence of the acute rejection. Hence, early detection of the kidney rejection is important for the treatment of renal diseases. In this chapter, authors introduce a new automatic approach to classify normal kidney function from kidney rejection using dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI). The kidney h...

A retrospective study was conducted on 50 pregnancies in 41 kidney transplant recipients. 37 pregnancies were successful (74%), while in 13 cases the pregnancy was lost (7 abortions,S intra-uterine fetal deaths and one therapeutic termination). The pregnancy course was uneventful in 38 cases (76%) but in 12 there were complications, such as hypertension or slight rise in serum creatinine. ...

Preformed T-cell immune-sensitization should most likely impact allograft outcome during the initial period after kidney transplantation, since donor-specific memory T-cells may rapidly recognize alloantigens and activate the effector immune response, which leads to allograft rejection. However, the precise time-frame in which acute rejection is fundamentally triggered by preformed donor-specif...

How to combine antirejection drugs and which is the optimal dose of steroids and calcineurin inhibitors beyond the first year after kidney transplantation to maintain adequate immunosuppression without major side effects are far from clear. Kidney transplant patients on steroid, cyclosporine (CsA), and azathioprine were randomized to per-protocol biopsy (n = 30) or no-biopsy (n = 29) 1 to 2 yr ...

BK virus associated nephropathy (BKVAN) in transplanted kidney, although recognized as a distinct entity in the 1970-es, continues to represent a challenge in kidney transplantation, mainly because the optimal treatment approach has not been determined yet. The fact that about 10-20% of patients have simultaneously some stage of acute rejection, complicate the treatment even more. Herein we pre...