Anemia in solid organ transplantation.

Anemia is not only a feature of chronic kidney disease of native or grafted kidneys, but also is frequently found in liver and heart transplant recipients. End-stage organ failure requiring transplantation is usually associated with failure or impaired function of other organs. Chronic kidney disease developing after non-renal solid organ transplantation is a significant issue, as reviewed previously. The degree of functional impairment in kidney function after non-solid organ transplantation and the rate of progression of CKD post-transplant depend to a large extent on pretransplant kidney function (ie, stage of preexisting CKD), the type of the transplanted organ, and the immunosuppressive protocol (use of calcineurin inhibitors), presence of comorbid conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, HCV infection, older age, surgical issues, and individual clinical features determining susceptibility to renal injury, even nephropathy resulting from BK virus infection, is presented.