Growth acceleration following renal transplantation in children less than 7 years of age.

Of 110 consecutive renal allografts performed at Children's Hospital Medical Center 12 were in 11 patients aged 3 to 7 years. Patient and graft survival and linear growth were evaluated in these 11 children. All 11 are surviving, seven (64%) with functioning allografts 12 to 92 months after transplant. Six of these seven have normal renal function (on alternate day prednisone dose less than 0.7 mg/kg every two days plus daily azathioprine) and all seven have shown catch-up growth, reaching and maintaining normal height for age. An eighth patient, now returned to dialysis, grew from below the third percentile at age 3 years to the 25th percentile at age 8 years, after which renal function deteriorated. Three patients rapidly rejected allografts and have had decreased growth velocity for age. In contrast, although many of the remaining 76 patients who received 98 transplants after age 7 years are growing, none showed accelerated linear growth sufficient to catch up if below the third percentile for age or to cross centile lines if above. Neither the degree of pretransplant bone age retardation nor steroid dose per kilogram accounted for lack of growth acceleration of those more than 7 years of age. Despite small sample size, the growth of renal transplant recipients less than 7 years of age suggests that they are good, and in some ways, favored transplant candidates.