Critical review of renal transplantation data from the Piedmontese Regional Dialysis and Transplantation Registry

: On 31/12/1995 a total of 1,128 Piedmontese uremic patients had undergone kidney transplantation, with 65% of operations performed by the Regional Reference Centre and 35% by extra-regional centres. Waiting time for dialysis was less than 5 years in over half of the patients most of whom were aged between 40 and 60 years old. In overall terms, the patient survival rate was 94%, 87%, 75% at 24, 60, 120 months respectively, with a statistically significant improvement when the curve was evaluated in the patient-pool treated with cyclosporine (84% versus 87% at 7 years). Organ survival was 76% at 21 years and 42% at 10 years, and results were again improved by the use of cyclosporine. Pathologies affecting the transplanted organ represent the main cause of morbidity; drop-out during dialysis is caused above all by immunological diseases. Infectious pathologies were responsible for the majority of deaths in this population.