Many renal transplantation centers arbitrarily deny transplantation to patients with morbid obesity usually defined as body mass index > 35. We present a series of 173 primary renal transplant patients in a new transplant program that accepted all recipients with 3 yrs or greater life expectancy and no active malignancy or infection. When the patient outcomes are divided into groups by body mass index, it can be seen as expected that patients with body mass index > 30 have an increased prevalence of wound infections (p < 0.05). However, aside from this complication there are no statistically significant outcome differences between the three groups realizing the possibility of type II statistical error because of small numbers. Graft survival, patient survival and other surgical complications are the same in all groups regardless of body mass index. At the end of the 3-yr interval with a minimum transplant follow-up of 3 months, 169 of 173 patients were alive and 163 of 173 transplants were functioning. Based on our experience, morbid obesity should not be used to exclude patients arbitrarily from transplantation anymore than advanced age or diabetes should.

Obese patients are denied renal transplantation in many centers. We report results regarding obesity from a new transplant program (1999 through 2007). Six hundred and forty-two patients were transplanted: 439 patients with BMI < 30 (Group 1), 109 patients with BMI 30.1-34.9 (Group 2), and 89 patients with BMI > 35 (Group 3). Follow-up was at least one yr. Medical and surgical management was performed by the same team throughout the study period. There were no demographic differences between groups except for increased diabetes in Groups 2 and 3. Actuarial graft and patient survivals were not statistically different between groups. Group 3 patients had numerical trends toward more delayed graft function and lower graft survivals but these did not reach statistical significance. Biopsy-proven rejections did not differ between groups. Wound infections were statistically significant in Groups 2 and 3 compared to Group 1 (p < 0.01). Despite increased wound infection rates with increased BMI, transplanting patients with morbid obesity results in better survival for individual patients than dialysis. Thus, there is no a priori ethical reason for treating obese ESRD patients differently from those with other comorbidities.

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OKT3, a murine monoclonal anti-T-cell antibody, was used to treat acute renal allograft rejection crises in 140 patients. When used for primary treatment of initial rejections, it was effective in all 20 recipients of related-donor (RD) grafts and in 70 of 74 recipients of cadaver-donor (CD) grafts. OKT3 was also used for resistant rejection unresponsive to conventional antirejection drugs and was effective in 11 of 13 RD and in 26 of 33 CD recipients. Rerejection occurred in 58% of patients in the OKT3 primary treatment group and in 35% of patients in the OKT3 rescue group. Fifty-nine percent of the patients produced anti-OKT3 antibodies. Nearly all recipients experienced a flu-like syndrome following the first and second daily doses of OKT3. Two-year actuarial patient survivals were 100 and 96% for RD and CD recipients, respectively. In the OKT3 primary treatment group, two-year actuarial RD and CD graft survivals were 91 and 76%, respectively. In the OKT3 rescue group, the two-year actuarial RD and CD graft survivals were 85 and 55%, respectively. A proposed immunosuppressive effect of OKT3 is T-cell inactivation by blocking antigen receptors linked to OKT3-reactive molecules. Reuse of OKT3 for recurrent rejection or subsequent organs may be hampered by anti-OKT3 antibody production. OKT3 is an effective steroid-sparing treatment for renal allograft rejection.

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