J Korean Soc Ther Radiol.  1986 Jun;4(1):15-20.

The Effect of Local Irradiation in Prevention and Reversal of Acute Rejection of Transplanted Kidney with High-dose Steroid Pulse

• Kim IH
• Ha SW
• Park CI
• Kim ST

Abstract

From 1979 to 1984, 39 local allograft irradiations were given to 29 patients: 10 irradiations were administered for prevention and 29 for reversal of acute rejection of transplanted kidney. Three doses of 150 cGy every other day were combined with high-dose of methylprednisolone pulse (1 gm/day) for 3 days. For prevention of acute rejection, local irradiation was delivered on the days 1, 3, and 5 after the transplantation, and for reversal, irradiation started after the diagnosis of acute rejection. Eight out of 10 patients irradiated for prevention had acute allograft rejection, and, what is more, there was no surviving graft at 15 months after transplantation. Reversal of acute rejection was achieved in 71%. When the pre-irradiation level of serum creatinine was below 5.5 mg%, the reversal rate was 93%, but above 5.5 mg% the reversal rate was only 17% (p<0.01). Reirradiation after failure was not successful. Among 15 reversed patients, 7 (47%) had subsequent rejection (s). The functional graft survivals at 6 month, 1, 2, and 3 year were 70%, 65%, 54%, and 65%, respectively. Therapeutic irradiation resulted in better graft survival when serum creatinine was below 5.5 mg% (p<0.001) or when irradiation started within 15 days after the diagnosis of acute rejection (p<0.001).

Keyword

Local allograft irradiation; Kidney transplantation

MeSH Terms

Allografts
Creatinine
Diagnosis
Graft Survival
Humans
Kidney Transplantation
Kidney*
Methylprednisolone
Transplants
Creatinine
Methylprednisolone