Tuberculosis and kidney transplantation.

Immunosuppressive treatment enhances the risk of pulmonary and other infections. Tuberculosis is a predictable complication in transplanted patients. The present material comprises 584 kidney transplantation patients, ten of whom had had a previous history of tuberculosis. After transplantation ten patients presented with pulmonary tuberculosis during immunosuppressive treatment. One of the patients to whom no prophylactic antituberculous treatment had been given presented with a relapsing tuberculosis. The results of routine antituberculous treatment were excellent, but graft and patient survival were disappointing among the tuberculosis patients.