Blood transfusion and kidney transplantation.

During the years 1968--1976, 115 nondiabetic primary cadaveric transplantations were performed in southern Sweden. For 95 of these patients there was an observation period of at least one year. 32% of these patients had never received a blood transfusion. These recipients had an lower one year graft survival (33%) than those who had received one or more transfusions (48%). Patients who had received more than five transfusions did not show a higher graft survival than other transfused kidney recipients. Presence of cytotoxic antibodies also decreased the one year graft survival both in the transfused and not transfused patient groups.