Study: Liver Transplant Recipients May Be Able to Avoid Steroids

The researchers at Georg-August University, reporting on a study of 30 adult patients in the journal Transplanation, said the use of the two anti-rejection medications proved "effective and safe in terms of patient and graft survival as well as incidence and severity of rejection."

"Patient and graft survival at two years was 86.7 percent and 83.9 percent, respectively," reported lead researcher Burckhardt Ringe.

The researchers said about a quarter of the patients experienced acute graft rejection related to low blood levels of Prograf. They said all of the rejection episodes were reversed by temporarily giving the patients steroids.

They also reported acute kidney failure in one third of the patients related to high blood levels of Prograf. They concluded that "close drug monitoring" is necessary to avoid under- or over-immunosuppression.

Other Sources: Transplantation