Outcome and Prognosis of Patients With Lupus Nephritis Submitted to Renal Transplantation

Abstract

This stydy aimed to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical profile and outcome of patients with lupus nephritis (LN) submitted to renal transplantation. Retrospective cohort study based on the records of 35 LN patients submitted to renal transplantation at a single center in Brazil between July 1996 and May 2016. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate 6-month, 1-year and 5-year graft survival. The sample included 38 transplantations (3 of which retransplantations). The mean age at the time of SLE diagnosis was 23.7 ± 9.0 years. Most patients were female (94.7%) and 68.4% were non-Caucasian. Twenty-two (57.9%) underwent renal biopsy prior to transplantation. The mean time from SLE diagnosis to transplantation was 10.3 ± 6.4 years. The mean pre-transplantation dialysis time was 3.8 ± 3.7 years. The grafts came from living related (n = 11) or deceased (n = 27) donors. Three (7.9%) patients experienced acute rejection in the first year. Graft and patient survival rates were, respectively, 97.1% and 100% at 6 months, 84.9% and 96.9% at 1 year, and 76.3% and 92.5% at 5 years. One (2.6%) patient had SLE recurrence. Venous thrombosis (p = 0.017) and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) (p = 0.036) were more prevalent in patients with graft loss. In our cohort of LN patients submitted to renal transplantation, the 5-year survival rate was high, and APS was an important predictor of poor renal outcome (graft loss).