ABO-Incompatible Kidney Transplantation in India: A Single-Center Experience of First Hundred Cases.

Aim: ABO-incompatible (ABOi) kidney transplantation overcomes immunological barrier of blood group incompatibility. There have been very few published experiences of ABOi kidney transplantation from India. We present our single-center experience of the first hundred ABOi kidney transplants.
Material and Methods: This is a single-center retrospective study of consecutive first hundred ABOi kidney transplant with at least 6 months of follow-up.
Results: During the study period (2011-2020), a total of 121 ABOi kidney transplants were performed. Of these, first hundred patients were analyzed. Median follow-up duration was 33 (10-101) months. Mean recipient and donor age were 41.5 ± 13 and 47.68 ± 11.25 years, respectively. Mean HLA mismatch was 4 ± 1.5. Median baseline anti-blood group antibody titer was 128 (2-1024). Most common recipient blood group was O. Patient and death censored graft survival was 93% and 94%, respectively, at median follow-up of 33 months. Biopsy-proven acute rejection (BPAR) rate was 17% with acute antibody-mediated rejection being 3%. Rate of infection was 37%, most common being urinary tract infection.
Conclusion: ABOi kidney transplant patients had acceptable patient and graft survival as well as BPAR rates. With current preconditioning protocol, infection rate was high.
Competing Interests: Dr. Vijay Kher has been in the speaker forum for Zydus as well as Genzyme/Sanofi and has also received research grants from Genzyme. Dr. Ajay Kher has been in the speaker forum for Sanofi. Other authors do not have any conflicts of interest associated with this publication.
(Copyright: © 2021 Indian Journal of Nephrology.)