Comparative study of clinical outcome in kidney transplantation between early steroid withdrawal protocol using basiliximab, calcineurin inhibitor, and mycophenolate mofetil and triple regimen consisting of calcineurin inhibitor, mycophenolate mofetil, and steroid

AIMS: Effect of early steroid withdrawal protocol using basiliximab in kidney transplantation (KTx) on the clinical outcomes was investigated as compared with triple regimen. METHODS: Kidney transplant patients in group 1 (n = 62) were treated with 8 mg/kg of cyclosporine (CsA), 2000 mg of MMF, two bolus IV injections of 20 mg of basiliximab and 500 mg of methylprednisolone (MP) rapidly tapered and withdrawn at 14 postoperative days (POD). Group 2 (n = 56) was treated with same dose of CsA and MMF, and 250 mg of MP tapered and continued. Acute rejection (AR) episodes were treated with MP pulse therapy followed by muromonab CD3 (OKT3) in case of steroid-resistant rejection. RESULTS: In 46 of 62 cases (74.2%) in group 1, steroid was successfully withdrawn at 13.7 +/- 1.7 POD. Graft survival at 3, 6, and 12 months in group 1 was 100%, 100%, and 98.4% (one death with functioning graft), and 100%, 98.2%, and 96.4% in group 2, respectively. The incidence of AR was 12.9% for group 1 and 42.9% for group 2, among which 21 cases in group 2 were treated with ALG or OKT3; no patient needed ALG or OKT3 in group 1. Fifteen cases in group 1 and 13 cases in group 2 developed CMV antigenemia, among which febrile episode was exhibited in 3 cases (4.8%) in group 1 and 5 cases (8.9%) in group 2. CONCLUSIONS: Early steroid withdrawal protocol using basiliximab is promising for reducing the incidence of AR (especially steroid-resistant rejection), CMV diseases, and steroid-related complications.