Nephroprotective effect of cilastatin in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Results from a retrospective analysis.

Cilastatin, an inhibitor of the tubular brush border enzyme dehydropeptidase-I, is added in a fixed combination to imipenem. Cilastatin has been demonstrated in different animal models and in one clinical trial, to reduce the nephrotoxicity associated with cyclosporin A. To evaluate a possible nephroprotective effect of cilastatin following allogeneic BMT we conducted a retrospective analysis of 104 patients transplanted in our BMT Unit from January 1991 to January 1995. Imipenem/cilastatin (I/C) was used in a non-randomized manner in 64 patients during this period. Acute renal failure (ARF) was diagnosed in 32 patients (30%). ARF was not associated with gender, sepsis, conditioning regimen, underlying disease, bilirubin, or age. VOD occurred in 12/32 (37.5%) of patients with ARF whereas it occurred in only 7/72 (9.7%) of patients without ARF (P < 0.0007). ARF was not correlated with use of aminoglycosides, vancomycin, ciprofloxacine, ceftazidime or amphotericin-B. However, 13 patients of 64 exposed to I/C (20.3%) developed ARF vs 19 of 40 patients (47.5%) who were not exposed to I/C (P < 0.003; OR 0.28). Stratified analysis and multiple logistic regression confirmed the I/C nephroprotective action. The mean cyclosporin A levels in the I/C group were significantly decreased (208.6 +/- 64.9) vs the non-I/C group (265 +/- 118). We conclude that these results suggest I/C may counteract acute cyclosporin A nephrotoxicity following BMT and further prospective clinical trials are needed to confirm if routine administration of cilastatine confers benefit in the BMT setting.