Favorable Kidney Function in Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients: Results of a Single-center Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND

Although chronic kidney disease (CKD) is still a common complication, the prognosis of kidney function after liver transplantation (LT) is not well known. Moreover, kidney function after LT in children with renal involvement is unknown.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed patients aged <20 years who underwent LT between November 2005 and March 2015 at our institute.

RESULTS

The cohort included 313 pediatric LT recipients (135 males). The median age at LT was 1.1 years (interquartile range, 0.6 to 4.8 y), and the median duration of follow-up was 3.8 years (interquartile range, 1.7 to 6.2 y). We divided the patients by their primary disease into BA (biliary atresia), non-BA (other liver disease without primary renal involvement), or KD (patients with a pre-existing kidney disease) group, which comprised 141, 141, and 31 patients, respectively. Eight-year renal survival with stage 3 CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate < 60 mL/min/1.73 m) as the event was 99.2%, 92.4%, and 47.7% for the BA, non-BA, and KD group, respectively. Multivariate analysis disclosed primary kidney disease and multiple acute rejections as independent predictors of renal survival. The KD group showed no increase in the rate of kidney function deterioration after LT.

CONCLUSIONS

Eight-year renal survival with stage 3 CKD, particularly in patients with non-pre-existing KD, exceeded 92.0%, and end-stage kidney disease developed in only one patient. Kidney function can be highly preserved following LT even in patients with KD, provided that LT is not contraindicated in patients with renal involvement receiving optimal immunosuppressive management.