Impact of Cyclosporine on Renal Transplant Practice at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston

The previous use of azathioprine-predni­ sone (Aza-Pred) immunosuppression was asso­ ciated with an overall 51 % one-year graft sur­ vival, due in part to unrestricted transplantation of recipients between the ages of2 and 70 years, who displayed strong immune responsiveness, were rarely splenectomized or transfused, and who were never treated with antilymphocyte sera. In contradistinction, during the recent 4 year pe­ riod, a single protocol of CsA-Pred was utilized in 300 consecutive recipients, yielding an overall graft success rate of 80 % and patient survival of 94.7% (Table 1).