Outcome of renal transplantation in patients treated with erythropoietin.

The introduction of treatment with recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) has raised the possibility of deleterious effects on early kidney graft function. Due to renal anemia, the great majority of patients waiting for kidney transplantation until now have had a low hematocrit. It has been suggested that a low hematocrit is beneficial for early kidney graft function by protecting the transplanted kidney from so-called reperfusion damage, which results in delayed onset of renal function. We have retrospectively examined the early function of 26 kidney grafts transplanted to uremic patients with rhEPO corrected anemia. Compared with a randomized control group no significant differences were seen in the rate of immediate onset of graft function, graft survival or serum levels of creatinine one year after transplantation. We conclude that the reversing of anemia by rhEPO in recipients of cadaver kidneys does not impair early graft function.