Successful renal transplantation for a patient with pyoderma gangrenosum.

Abstract Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG), a rare skin disease of unknown etiology, forms intractable skin ulcers at surgical or traumatic sites. This case is a 40-year-old woman with PG who experienced end-stage renal disease due to type 1 diabetes mellitus. Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation and peritoneal dialysis introduction were considered to be difficult, because this patient had a history of developing intractable aseptic ulcers at surgical sites. Therefore, she continued hemodialysis via a temporary catheter. With frequent catheter exchange, there was stenosis of both the femoral veins and the internal jugular vein. Therefore, a hemodialysis catheter that could be used for the long term was inserted into the left jugular vein as a final site. To prevent the patient not being able to continue hemodialysis, we performed a kidney transplantation to save her life. We performed a blood type–compatible, living donor kidney transplantation after confirming the absence of active skin lesions. The 69-year-old donor was her mother. Induction immunotherapy started with tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, steroids, and basiliximab. Intravenous pulses of methylprednisolone were performed to prevent ulceration of the surgical site on days 0–2 (500 mg/d). The postoperative course was excellent. After the operation, ulceration of the surgical site was never observed. The serum creatinine value was 0.87 mg/dL at 6 months. To our knowledge, renal transplantations for a patient with PG has not been previously reported.