Triple therapy and initial renal graft perfusion.

Cyclosporin A may decrease the perfusion of transplanted kidneys, especially if they are ischaemic. Therefore, monitoring of graft perfusion was performed with intravenous 99mTc pertechnetate angiography in 25 patients within 36 hours after renal transplantation and repeated 24 or 48 hours later and then again 48 hours later. In all patients, immunosuppression was performed with triple therapy (low dose prednisone, azathioprine, and cyclosporin A) which included a delay in cyclosporin A administration to the second postoperative day. Treatment with triple therapy did not cause a decrease in renal blood flow in the days immediately after transplantation as single therapy with high-dose cyclosporin A has been reported to do.