[Retrospective analysis of infections in patients after kidney transplantation].

INTRODUCTION

Transplantation is the best way of treatment in end-stage renal disease. Kidney transplantation is the most common among all transplantations of vascularised organs. The development of transplantational immunology, as well as the improvement of schemes of immunosuppressive treatment decrease the number of episodes of acute rejection. They also allow perennial functioning of the transplanted organ. However, the necessity to dampen the immune system, through the delivery of immunosuppressive drugs (to prevent rejection), contributes to a deterioration in the ability of the body to fight infections. Patients after kidney transplantation are in the group at special risk of bacterial, viral and fungal infections, which poses an essential therapeutic problem. The aims of this work were: the retrospective analysis of infections in patients after kidney transplantation, analysis of etiologic factors and the form of clinical infections, and the establishment of the risk factors of infections in the recipients of kidney transplant.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

147 patients hospitalized from 1.01.2007 to 31.12.2008 at the Department of Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation in the Independent Public Provincial Hospital in Szczecin were considered in the study. The data were obtained from medical records, i.e. operative reports on kidney transplant, patient's history, and the results of microbiological and serological examinations.

CONCLUSIONS

1. High risk of infection occurred in the case of: low compatibility in the human leukocyte antigen system, long cold ischemia time, and in recipients who required higher doses of corticosteroids. 2. Prompt diagnosis of the infection and the early implementation of suitable therapy seems to be fundamental for the effectiveness of treatment and the prevention of further infectious complications in patients after kidney transplantation.