These guidelines cover the care of patients from the period following kidney transplantation until the transplant is no longer working or the patient dies. During the early phase prevention of acute rejection and infection are the priority. After around 3–6 months, the priorities change to preservation of transplant function and avoiding the long-term complications of immunosuppressive medication (the medication used to suppress the immune system to prevent rejection). The topics discussed include organization of outpatient follow up, immunosuppressive medication, treatment of acute and chronic rejection, and prevention of complications. The potential complications discussed include heart disease, infection, cancer, bone disease and blood disorders. There is also a section on contraception and reproductive issues.Immediately after the introduction there is a statement of all the recommendations. These recommendations are written in a language that we think should be understandable by many patients, relatives, carers and other interested people. Consequently we have not reworded or restated them in this lay summary. They are graded 1 or 2 depending on the strength of the recommendation by the authors, and AD depending on the quality of the evidence that the recommendation is based on.

We assessed the outcome of pretransplant cardiac assessment in a single center. Three hundred patients with end-stage renal disease underwent electrocardiogram, Bruce exercise testing (ETT) and ventricular assessment by cardiac MRI. Patients with high index of suspicion of coronary artery disease (CAD) underwent coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) if indicated. Two hundred and twentytwo patients were accepted onto the renal transplant waiting list; 80 patients were transplanted during the follow-up period and 60 died (7 following transplantation). Successful transplantation was associated with improved survival (mean survival 4.5 ± 0.6 years vs. listed not transplanted 4.1 ± 1.4 years vs. not listed 3.1 ± 1.7 years; p < 0.001). Ninety-nine patients underwent coronary angiography; 65 had normal or lowgrade CAD and 34 obstructive CAD. Seventeen patients (5.6%) were treated by PCI. There was no apparent survival difference between patients who underwent PCI or coronary artery bypass graft compared to those who underwent angiography without intervention or no angiography (p = 0.67). Factors associated with nonlisting for renal transplantation included burden of preexisting cardiovascular disease, poor exercise tolerance and severity of CAD. Pretransplant cardiovascular screening provides prognostic information and information that can be used to restrict access to transplantation. However, if the aim is to identify and treat CAD, the benefits are far from clear.

Noninvasive quantification of myocardial fibrosis in end-stage renal disease is challenging. Gadolinium contrast agents previously used for cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are contraindicated because of an association with nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. In other populations, increased myocardial native T1 times on cardiac MRI have been shown to be a surrogate marker of myocardial fibrosis. We applied this method to 33 incident hemodialysis patients and 28 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers who underwent MRI at 3.0T. Native T1 relaxation times and feature tracking–derived global longitudinal strain as potential markers of fibrosis were compared and associated with cardiac biomarkers. Left ventricular mass indices were higher in the hemodialysis than the control group. Global, Septal and midseptal T1 times were all significantly higher in the hemodialysis group (global T1 hemodialysis 1171 ± 27 ms vs. 1154 ± 32 ms; septal T1 hemodialysis 1184 ± 29 ms vs. 1163 ± 30 ms; and midseptal T1 hemodialysis 1184 ± 34 ms vs. 1161 ± 29 ms). In the hemodialysis group, T1 times correlated with left ventricular mass indices. Septal T1 times correlated with troponin and electrocardiogram-corrected QT interval. The peak global longitudinal strain was significantly reduced in the hemodialysis group (hemodialysis -17.7±5.3% vs. -21.8±6.2%). For hemodialysis patients, the peak global longitudinal strain significantly correlated with left ventricular mass indices (R = 0.426), and a trend was seen for correlation with galectin-3, a biomarker of cardiac fibrosis. Thus, cardiac tissue properties of hemodialysis patients consistent with myocardial fibrosis can be determined noninvasively and associated with multiple structural and functional abnormalities.

Background and objectives: Patients with end-stage renal failure (ESRD) have an increased risk of premature cardiovascular (CV) disease. Left ventricular hypertrophy is an independent risk factor for CV events and death in ESRD. Renal transplantation has been associated with reduction in CV risk and echocardiographic regression of left ventricular hypertrophy. However, echocardiography overestimates LV mass in ESRD patients. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) provides more detailed, volume-independent, measures of cardiac structure. Changes in LV mass measured by CMR after renal transplantation were studied.Design, setting, participants, & measurements: Fifty patients underwent CMR on two occasions. Twenty-five were transplanted before the second scan. CMR was performed to measure LV mass index (LVMI), ejection fraction, end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes. Changes were expressed as percentage change over time. Patients with CV events between scans (e.g., acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction) were excluded. All transplant patients had serum creatinine <150 mol/L.Results: There was no significant change in LVMI between patients who underwent renal transplantation and those who remained on dialysis (transplanted mean, 2.75%/yr, ؎ 9.1 versus dialysis, ؊3.6%/yr ؎ 16.7). In addition, there were no significant changes in end-diastolic volume (transplant, 0.1%/yr ؎ 19.5 versus not transplanted, ؊3.4%/yr ؎ 31.5), end-systolic volume (transplanted mean, 15.2%/yr ؎ 65.2 versus not transplanted, 3.0%/yr ؎ 55.5), or ejection fraction (transplant, 2.1%/yr ؎ 11.9 versus not transplanted, ؊0.4%/yr ؎ 5.3).Conclusions: Renal transplantation is not associated with significant regression of LVMI on CMR compared with patients who remain on the transplant waiting list.