Factors predisposing to post-renal transplant erthyrocytosis : a retrospective study

Abstract EN

A retrospective study was conducted on 143 consecutive renal transplant recipients who had a functioning graft for three months or longer, to evaluate the prevalence of post-transplant erythrocytosis (PTE) and its potential risk factors.

True PTE was defined as hematocrit (Ht) above 52% and hemoglobin (Hb) above 18 g / dl in males, and Ht above 50% and Hb above 17g /dl in females.

A total of 31 patients (21.6%) developed PTE; none had any evidence of polycythemia vera (PV), or secondary polycythemia due to reduced arterial oxygen, kidney or hepatic tumors, or relative erythrocytosis due to a decrease in plasma volume by overuse of diuretics.

Thirty-one non-polycythemic patients (Hb 12.9 +-1.6 g / dl) matched for sex, age and renal function were used as case controls.

PTE was more common in males (p= 0.043).

The majority of our patients developed PTE within the first year post-transplantation and all had excellent renal function at the time of diagnosis.

Also, PTE was found to be related to duration on dialysis prior to transplantation (p= 0.0013) and acute rejection (p= 0.0031).