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Cryptococcosis is the third most common cause of invasive fungal infection in solid organ transplant recipients and cryptococcal meningitis (CM) its main clinical presentation. CM outcomes, as well as its clinical features and radiological characteristics, have not yet been considered on a large scale in the context of kidney transplantation (KT). We performed a nationwide retrospective study of adult patients diagnosed with cryptococcosis after KT between 2002 and 2020 across 30 clinical centers in France. We sought to describe overall and graft survival based on whether KT patients with cryptococcosis developed CM or not. Clinical indicators of CNS involvement and brain radiological characteristics were assessed. Eighty-eight cases of cryptococcosis were diagnosed during the study period, with 61 (69.3%) cases of CM. Mortality was high (32.8%) at 12 months (M12) but not significantly different whether or not patients presented with CM. Baseline hyponatremia and at least one neurological symptom were independently associated with CM (p < 0.001). Positive serum cryptococcal antigen at diagnosis was also significantly associated with CM (p < 0.001). On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), three patterns of brain injury were identified: parenchymal, meningeal, and vascular lesions. Although CM does not affect graft function directly, it entails a grim prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Various surgical centers tend to postpone a kidney transplantation (KT) to the following morning than to operate at night‐time. The objective of our study was to assess whether there was any difference between daytime and night‐time renal transplantation in our institution. Method: This study is a retrospective monocentric study including all the KTs that were performed between 2012 and 2013 by transplant expert surgeons in our institution. Clavien‐Dindo (CD) complications were classified according to 7 variables going from 1 to 5. Time before postgraft diuresis and delayed graft function (DGF) were also analyzed. Two groups of patients were formed according to threshold value of incision time (6.30 p.m.). Data comparison were performed using the Kruskal–Wallis nonparametric test. Results: A total of 179 patients were included. Median follow‐up was 24 months. Cold ischemia time was longer in the night‐time transplantation (1082 vs. 807 min, p <.001), but rewarming time was shorter (47.24 vs. 52.15 min, p =.628). No statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups using the Kruskal–Wallis method for CD complications (Qobs: 0.076; p =.735). CD complications proportion was similar, with a majority of grade II complications (72.7% daytime group vs. 75.4% night‐time group (p =.735). DGF (19 patients for daytime group vs. 13 patients for night‐time group, p =.359) and time before postgraft diuresis (4.65 days daytime group vs. 5.27 days night‐time group, p =.422) were similar between both groups. Multivariate analysis did not show significant predictors of CD complications Grade 3 and more. Conclusion: Night‐time renal transplantation did not induce more postoperative CD complications than diurnal procedures in our cohort, challenging the false preconceptions that allow surgical teams to delay this surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Multiple days assessments are frequent for the evaluation of candidates to living kidney donation, combined with an early GFR estimation (eGFR). Living kidney donation is questionable when eGFR is <90 ml/min/1.73 m2 (KDIGO guidelines) or 80 ml/min/1.73 m2 (most US centres). However, age‐related GFR decline results in a lower eGFR for older candidates. That may limit the number of older kidney donors. Yet, continuing the screening with a GFR measure increases the number of eligible donors. We hypothesized that in‐depth screening should be proposed to all candidates with a normal eGFR for age. We compared the evolution of eGFR after donation between three groups of predonation eGFR: normal for age (Sage) higher than 90 or 80 ml/min/1.73 m2 (S90 and S80, respectively); across three age groups (<45, 45–55, >55 years) in a population of 1825 French living kidney donors with a median follow‐up of 5.9 years. In donors younger than 45, postdonation eGFR, absolute‐ and relative‐eGFR variation were not different between the three groups. For older donors, postdonation eGFR was higher in S90 than in S80 or Sage but other comparators were identical. Postdonation eGFR slope was comparable between all groups. Our results are in favour of in‐depth screening for all candidates to donation with a normal eGFR for age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Long-term studies have demonstrated a slight increased risk for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) for living kidney donors (LKD). In France, living kidney donation doubled within the past 10 years. We investigated the change in characteristics of LKD between 2007 and 2017 and the adequacy of follow-up. Methods Data were obtained from the national registry for LKD. We compared characteristics of LKD between two study periods: 2007–11 and 2012–17, and stratified donors by age and relation to recipient. We aggregated four characteristics associated with higher ESRD risk [young age, first-degree relation to recipient, obesity, low glomerular filtration rate (GFR) for age] in a single risk indicator ranging from 0 to 4. Results We included 3483 donors. The proportion of unrelated donors >56 years of age increased significantly. The proportion of related donors <56 years of age decreased significantly. The body mass index and proportion of obese donors did not change significantly. The proportion of donors with low estimated GFR for age decreased significantly from 5% to 2.2% (P < 0.001). The proportion of donors with adequate follow-up after donation increased from 19.6% to 42.5% (P < 0.001). No donor had a risk indicator equal to 4, and the proportion of donors with a risk indicator equal to 0 increased significantly from 19.2% to 24.9% (P < 0.001). Conclusions An increase in living kidney donation in France does not seem to be associated with the selection of donors at higher risk of ESRD and the proportion of donors with adequate annual follow-up significantly increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The increased survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) raises the question of kidney transplantation (KT) in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Methods We included 13 patients with MM or smoldering myeloma (SMM) and ESRD transplanted between 2007 and 2015, including 7 MM with cast nephropathy, 3 with MM-associated amyloid light chain amyloidosis or light chain deposition disease and 3 SMM and compared them with 65 control-matched kidney-transplanted patients. Nine of the MM patients with KT were also compared with 63 matched MM patients on haemodialysis. Results Pre-transplantation parameters were comparable, except for the duration of renal replacement therapy (57.8 versus 37.0 months; P = 0.029) in MM versus control patients, respectively. The median follow-up post-KT was 44.4 versus 36.4 months (P = 0.40). The median MM graft and patient survival were 80.1 and 117.2 months, respectively, and were not significantly different from control patients, although mortality tended to be higher in the 10 symptomatic MM patients (P = 0.059). MM patients had significantly more viral and fungal infections and immunosuppressive maintenance therapy modifications while they received lower induction therapy. Two MM patients relapsed and two SMM cases evolved to MM after KT. Three cast nephropathies occurred, two of them leading to ESRD. Moreover, survival of MM with KT increased relative to control haemodialysed patients (P = 0.002). Conclusions Selected MM patients may benefit from KT but need careful surveillance in the case of KT complications and MM evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is extensive literature with comparisons between Anti-Thymocyte Globulin (ATG) and Basiliximab (BSX) as induction therapy in kidney transplant recipients. The purpose of our benchmarking study was to describe the consequences in terms of practices in 6 transplantation centers of a French prospective cohort. Methods: We included adult patients who received a first or second kidney graft between 2013 and 2019 (n = 4157). We used logistic regressions to identify characteristics associated with the use of ATG or BSX. Results: Use of ATG between the centers ranged from 41% to 75%. We observed different factors associated with the treatment decision. Compared to a first transplant, performing a second graft was the only factor significantly associated with the choice of ATG in all centers. The AUC ranged from 0.67 to 0.91, indicating that the centers seemed to define their own rules. As a result, for patients with the same low immunological risk, the probability of receiving ATG varied from 7% to 36%. We stratified the analyses according to two periods, from 2013 to 2015 and from 2016 to 2019. A similar heterogeneity was observed, and in some cases ATG indications between the centers were inverted. Conclusions: The heterogeneity of induction therapy practices did not decrease in France, even if the reated literature is prolific. This illustrates the necessity to improve the literature by using meta-analyses of recent studies stratified by graft and patient profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Numerous studies have reported a weekend effect on outcomes for diseases treated at hospitals. No study has been conducted in France for kidney transplantation. We therefore performed a cohort‐based study to evaluate whether outcomes of kidney transplant recipients display a weekend effect. Data were extracted from the French DIVAT cohort. Patients aged 18 years and older, transplanted with a single kidney from deceased donors between 2005 and 2017 were studied. Linear regression, logistic regression, and cause‐specific Cox model were used. Among the 6652 studied patients, 4653 patients were transplanted during weekdays (69.9%) versus 1999 during weekends (30.1%). The only statistically significant difference was the percentage of patients with vascular surgical complication(s) at 30 days: 13.3% in the weekend group versus 16.2% in the weekday group 0.79 (95% CI: 0.68; 0.92). We did not observe other significant differences for the other outcomes: patient or graft survival, the risk of acute rejection episodes, the 30‐day percentage of urological complications, and the 1‐year estimated glomerular filtration rate. Our study highlights a small protective weekend effect with less post‐surgery vascular complications compared to weekdays. This paradox might be explained by a different handling of weekend transplantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Most studies comparing the efficacy of hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) versus static cold storage (SCS) are based on short-term outcomes. We aimed to better evaluate the mid-term impact of HMP in patients receiving expanded criteria donor (ECD) kidneys. Methods The analyses were based on the French Données Informatisées et VAlidées en Transplantation (DIVAT) observational cohort. Patients aged ≥45 years transplanted for the first or second times from an ECD donor since 2010 were studied. Our study reported the graft and/or patient survivals and the incidence of acute rejection episode. The Cox models and the Kaplan–Meier estimators, weighted on the propensity score, were used to study the times-to-events. Results Among the 2019 included patients, 1073 were in the SCS group versus 946 in the HMP group. The mean life expectancy with functioning graft was 5.7 years [95% confidence interval (CI) 5.4–6.1] for the HMP cohort followed-up for 8 years post-transplantation versus 6.0 years (95% CI 5.7–6.2) for the SCS group. These mid-term results were comparable in the patients receiving grafts from donors aged ≥70 years and in the transplantations with cold ischaemia time ≥18 h. Conclusions Our study challenges the utility of using HMP to improve mid-term patient and graft survival. Nevertheless, the improvement of the short-term outcomes is indisputable. It is necessary to continue technological innovations to obtain long-term results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The prognosis of sickle cell disease (SCD) patients who need dialysis is poor, but experience with kidney transplantation is limited. This study assessed the characteristics of 36 SCD patients undergoing renal transplantation. Immediate post‐surgical complications occurred in 25% of cases. Cytomegalovirus and bacterial infections were frequently observed. Twelve patients died after a median follow‐up period of 17·4 months. Overall patient survival was significantly lower in SCD than in the control group without significant difference for overall death‐censored graft survival. Our data suggest that renal transplantation should be systematically considered in SCD patients with end‐stage renal disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background A significant number of studies have compared graft outcomes between patients with Pre-emptive Kidney Transplantation (PreKT) and patients on Dialysis before their Kidney Transplantation (DiaKT). These studies have suffered from the limitation that the DiaKT group is composed of all the dialysed patients, including those placed on a waiting list at the time of their first dialysis session. This seriously questions the comparability of these patients with those placed on the waiting list a long time before the need for renal replacement therapy. The aim of this study was to precisely evaluate the causal effect of PreKT from deceased donors. Methods Data were extracted from the multicentric French DIVAT (Données Informatisées et VAlidées en Transplantation) cohort. The DiaKT group was composed of patients placed on the waiting list with an initial intention of pre-emptive transplantation. Cause-specific Cox models with propensity scores (inverse probability weighting) were used to study the patient and graft outcomes. Results Among the 1138 included patients, 554 patients were in the PreKT group. The outcomes of the PreKT group were similar compared with the DiaKT group. In particular, the life expectancy with a functioning graft was 8.51 years [95% confidence interval (CI) 8.20–8.81] for the PreKT recipients versus 8.49 years (95% CI 8.15–8.84) for the DiaKT recipients. Conclusions Our results challenge the utility of PreKTs from deceased donors, especially with regard to the consequential increase in the waiting list. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angioplasty with or without stenting has become a well-established procedure to treat transplant renal artery stenosis (TRAS). We evaluated our experience on postoperative outcomes following the intervention and identified potential predictive factors of TRAS recurrence. Consecutive patients who underwent endovascular treatment of TRAS were retrospectively reviewed. The study end points were the technical success, 30-day postoperative complications, and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Thirty-two patients underwent endovascular treatment for TRAS. The technical success rate was 96.6%. Complications were observed for 7 (21.9%) patients: 4 had a dissection, 2 a pseudoaneurysm, and 1 (3.1%) patient developed an acute pulmonary edema. The mean eGFR significantly increased at 7 days, 3 months, and 6 months postintervention (43.1, 44.9, and 44.3 vs 33.9 mL/min/1.73 m2 preoperatively, P < .05). The TRAS recurrence was observed in 7 (21.9%) patients. These patients had significantly higher preoperative peak systolic velocity and systolic rise time (5 vs 4 m/s, P = .0383 and 103 vs 80 milliseconds, P = .0148, respectively). Endovascular treatment of TRAS is associated with high technical success and significant improvement in renal function. Further studies are required to confirm predictive factors of TRAS recurrence following endovascular treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Our objective was to compare the outcomes of dual kidney transplanataion (DKT) to single kidney transplantation (SKT) performed with grafts from expanded criteria donors (ECD) in recipients ≥65 years, focusing on surgical complications. All kidney transplantations (KT) performed between 2006 and 2014 in our institution were analysed. DKT was indicated according to the criteria of the French national Agence de la Biomedecine. Thirty‐nine DKT and 155 SKT were included, with a median follow‐up of 36 and 26.5 months, respectively. The rate of early surgical revisions was not significantly higher after DKT (23.1% vs 15.5% (P = 0.2593)) but more venous graft thromboses (12.8% vs 3.2% (P = 0.02)) were reported. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) 24 months after KT was significantly higher after DKT (45.0 ± 16.3 vs 39.8 ± 13.8 ml/min/1.73m2; P = 0.04) and allowed shorter waiting time without a significant increased risk of surgical revision, excepted for venous graft thrombosis, more frequent after DKT. Graft survivals were not significantly different and GFR was higher after DKT. DKT seems to remain an appropriate strategy to address the growing graft shortage in elderly patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dialysis registries have reported a low take-up of home treatment. The aim of our study was to report patients' preferred treatment options for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) after information delivery, patients' characteristics by treatment preference, and the reasons for differences between treatment preference and the treatment delivered. Methods: A prospective cohort study on patients seen in our nephrology department between January 2009 and June 2011 included all patients with chronic kidney disease (GFR <20 ml/min/1.73 m2) and incident dialysis patients who received an information program about ESRD treatment options. Results: 228 patients received information delivery and either expressed a preference for a given renal replacement therapy (peritoneal dialysis, PD: 42%; hemodialysis, HD: 33%), remained undecided (20%) or expressed reluctance to undergo renal replacement therapy (5%). Multivariate analysis revealed that compared to HD preference, patients preferring PD were older (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.0-1.04), had a lower BMI (OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.87-0.98) and were more likely to have been informed before rather than after starting dialysis (OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.5-7.4); home treatment was the main reason given for preferring PD. Undecided patients were mainly women and the majority were eventually treated by HD. Reluctant patients were the oldest (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.02-1.22) and were rarely treated by dialysis. Only 24% of patients informed before and 8% of patients informed after starting dialysis were ultimately treated with PD. Reasons for a mismatch between dialysis modality preference and treatment delivered were equally distributed between medical and nonmedical. Conclusion: Patients should be systematically informed before starting dialysis, patients' preferences should be taken into account before organizing dialysis and all treatment modalities should be available in all centers. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with end stage renal diseases (ESRD) are generally tested for donor chimerism after kidney transplantation for tolerance mechanism purposes. But, to our knowledge, no data are available on natural and/or iatrogenic microchimerism (Mc), deriving from pregnancy and/or blood transfusion, acquired prior to transplantation. In this context, we tested the prevalence of male Mc using a real time PCR assay for DYS14, a Y-chromosome specific sequence, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 55 women with ESRD, prior to their first kidney transplantation, and compared them with results from 82 healthy women. Male Mc was also quantified in 5 native kidney biopsies obtained two to four years prior to blood testing and in PBMC from 8 women collected after female kidney transplantation, several years after the initial blood testing. Women with ESRD showed statistically higher frequencies (62%) and quantities (98 genome equivalent cells per million of host cells, gEq/M) of male Mc in their PBMC than healthy women (16% and 0.3 gEq/M, p<0.00001 and p = 0.0005 respectively). Male Mc was increased in women with ESRD whether they had or not a history of male pregnancy and/or of blood transfusion. Three out of five renal biopsies obtained a few years prior to the blood test also contained Mc, but no correlation could be established between earlier Mc in a kidney and later presence in PBMC. Finally, several years after female kidney transplantation, male Mc was totally cleared from PBMC in all women tested but one. This intriguing and striking initial result of natural and iatrogenic male Mc persistence in peripheral blood from women with ESRD raises several hypotheses for the possible role of these cells in renal diseases. Further studies are needed to elucidate mechanisms of recruitment and persistence of Mc in women with ESRD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clinical merit of surveillance kidney graft biopsies remains controversial. A retrospective, multicenter analysis evaluated 12-month surveillance biopsies (SB, 154 patients) versus no SB (NSB, 138 patients (11 with diagnostic biopsy)) in patients >18 months posttransplant with estimated GFR (eGFR) ⩾30 mL/min. The primary objective was to describe renal function at 18 months post-transplant in patients with or without SB at month 12. Globally, most recipients in both cohorts were at low immunological risk (<10% of patients with PRA ⩾30%). The immunosuppressive regimen remained unchanged following more than half of SB that exhibited chronic lesions (18/33, 54.5%). Mean (SD) eGFR at month 18 (primary endpoint) was 56 (19) mL/min/1.73m2 with SB and 54 (15) mL/min/1.73m2 with NSB (P = 0.48). In the SB group, slight nonspecific changes were observed in 51 cases, rejection (acute or chronic) in 6 cases, CNI-related toxicity in 15 cases, recurrence of initial disease in two cases, and interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy (IF/TA) in 83 cases (71.6%), of which 35 cases (30.2%) were grade II/III lesions. eGFR <50 mL/min/1.73m2 at month 6 predicted IF/TA grade II or III (OR 3.85, 95% CI 1.64, 9.05, P < 0.002). SB at 12 months posttransplant did not prompt significant modification of immunosuppression, and no renal benefit was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]