Steroid-cyclophosphamide pretreatment of kidney allograft donors. A control study.

34 cadaveric donor grafts were randomized in a blind study of the effect of pretreatment of 5 g each of methylprednisolone and cyclophosphamide on kidney graft outcome. There was no difference in overall survival or functioning after 3, 6 or 12 months between grafts from pretreated (33 kidneys) or control (29 kidneys) cadaveric donors. In addition, this pretreatment protocol did not modify the recipient immune response against B-lymphocyte alloantigens which developed in unsuccessful transplants. Our data, thus, neither confirm the high rate of kidney graft survival attributed to cadaveric donor treatment nor the supposition that treatment is effective in suppressing recipient antidonor B-lymphocyte antibodies.