EVALUATION OF PREOPERATIVE EXTRACORPOREAL IRRADIATION OF BLOOD IN HUMAN RENAL TRANSPLANTATION

Extracorporeal irradiation of the blood has been performed as an adjunctive immunosuppressive treatment before renal transplantation. 60Co has been used as the radiation source. Eighteen patients receiving ≥9,000 rads/blood volume at ≥5 irradiation treatments before transplantation have been compared with 60 control patients who did not receive any preoperative extracorporeal irradiation of the blood. There was no difference in numbers of deaths unrelated to rejection episodes in these groups of patients. There was a significantly smaller number of rejection episodes among the treated patients during the 2nd-4th weeks after transplantation. There was a significantly higher percentage of functioning transplants in the treated group, when related to the total number of transplanted kidneys. Relatively more kidneys were lost because of rejection in the untreated group. This might explain why there was no striking difference of glomerular filtration rates of remaining kidneys between the groups. There was a significantly higher rate of severe infections in a group of patients receiving ≥40,000 rads of extracorporeal irradiation of the blood than in an unirradiated group, while this morbidity was low among patients receiving less than 40,000 rads. © 1969 by The Williams and Wilkins Co.