No difference in outcome between 314 nontransfused and 614 transfused cadaveric renal transplant recipients: the Scandinavian experience.

Pretransplant blood transfusions had no beneficial effect on the graft survival rate, the rejection frequency, or the quality of graft function in a case material consisting of 928 cadaveric kidney transplant recipients treated with 3 different CsA dose protocols. When younger recipients, PRA-negative recipients, or recipients receiving poorly HLA-matched kidneys were analyzed separately, there was still no transfusion effect. In the most recent series, the one-year graft survival rate was 84% among 164 nontransfused patients, and in 73 nontransfused patients under 50 years of age it was 90%. We conclude that with present day immunosuppressive therapy, based on CsA, there is no case for pretreatment blood transfusions. Indeed, this practice might place the renal transplant patient at a disadvantage.