Effect of HLA Typing and Transfusions on Cyclosporine-Treated Renal-Allograft Recipients

Abstract

To the Editor: With the introduction of cyclosporine (cyclosporin A) for immunosuppressive treatment of transplant recipients, the question arises whether blood transfusions and tissue typing are still necessary. We wish to report here the early results of transplantations done from 1983 to 1984 in 522 cyclosporine-treated first cadaver-donor renal-allograft recipients, as compared with 2670 recipients treated with conventional corticosteroid and azathioprine therapy during the same period. The data were contributed by over 40 transplant centers in the United States, 12 in Canada, and 9 in Europe and Japan.Thecydosporine-treated patients had a 76±2 percent six-month survival rate, as compared with . . .