Outcomes of two‐drug maintenance immunosuppression for pediatric renal transplantation: 10‐yr follow‐up in a single center

Minimizing IS to reduce side effects without compromising long-term renal transplant survival is the goal of all IS protocols. We conducted a retrospective study of pediatric renal transplants performed August 1988 to July 2008 and treated with two-drug maintenance therapy by one of three protocols: prednisone/cyclosporine without induction (SB) or with daclizumab induction (SBI), or tacrolimus/mycophenolate with daclizumab induction (SF). Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to determine graft and patient survival at one, three, five, and 10 yr. Associations between graft survival and patient/transplant characteristics were determined using log-rank test and CPH model adjusting for treatment group. About 208 patients were included in the analysis (96 SB, 97 SBI, 15 SF; 148 DD, 60 LD, 37 pre-emptive). Overall graft and patient survival at one, three, five, and 10 yr were similar to the previously published results of pediatric renal transplants in similar years treated predominantly with three-drug maintenance therapy (https://web.emmes.com/study/ped/annlrept/2010). Only biopsy-proven TG was significantly associated with worse graft survival (HR 11.5, 95% CI: 3.4, 38.7). Malignancy rate was low (2.4%) with little PTLD (0.5%). Few opportunistic or other infections occurred (<5% patients). Minimizing IS to a two-drug maintenance regimen had no adverse effect on long-term transplant outcome and had low malignancy and infection rates.