Pretransplant Epstein-Barr virus serostatus and incidence of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder in pediatric renal transplants.

OBJECTIVES: Pediatric renal transplant recipients are at increased risk of Epstein-Barr virus infection which may be due to the high percentage of Epstein-Barr virus seronegative recipients at the time of transplant in the pediatric age group. We aimed to assess the Epstein-Barr virus serostatus of recipients and donors and the incidence of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder in pediatric renal transplant at the Labafinejad Hospital in Tehran, Iran.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the clinical records of 183 children who had a renal transplant at the Labafinejad Hospital in Tehran, Iran, between 2003 and 2011.

RESULTS: Of all the patients, 61.2% were Epstein-Barr virus seropositive at the time of transplant. Graft survival rate and the rate of acute rejection episodes were not statistically different between the seropositive and seronegative recipients. Three patients (0.005%) had posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder after transplant.

CONCLUSIONS: We showed that the rate of seronegative recipients in our cohort is similar to other studies, but the rate of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder was low in our recipients.