A Prospective One-year Study Evaluating the Clinical Outcome of Recipients of Living Donor Kidneys Treated with Cyclosporin and Azathioprine

Abstract Thirty recipients of living related donor kidneys treated either with cyclosporin or azathioprine were evaluated clinically and functionally in a 1-year prospective study. Only the azathioprine group showed either accelerated or chronic rejection (one patient each). The azathioprine patients had higher rate of infectious episodes (P = 0.05), leukopenia (P = 0.003) and steroidal side-effects (P less than 0.007). During the early post-transplant period the renal functional performance was the same in both groups. Afterwards, however, the plasma creatinine was higher in the cyclosporin group (P less than 0.01). Mean arterial pressure remained similar throughout the study in both groups. The anaemia correction was similar in both groups but the haematocrit was greater in the cyclosporin-treated subjects (P less than 0.005).