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The 2001 annual report of the North American Pediatric Renal Transplant Cooperative Study (NAPRTCS) registry includes data on 4,546 dialysis patients. Important trends in dialysis care include a significant increase in the use of peritoneal dialysis catheters with two cuffs (51.6% vs. 36.2%, P<0.001), a Swan neck tunnel (34.1% vs. 20.9%, P<0.001), and a downward pointing exit site (34.9% vs. 29.5%, P<0.001) in patients who initiated dialysis between 1997 and 2000 compared with 1992–1996. Most hemodialysis patients continued to have an external percutaneous catheter as their access at the time of initiation of dialysis (1,550/1,971 patients, 78.6%), but the odds of using a jugular rather than a subclavian vein for these catheters increased by 24% each year between 1992 and 2000. There was a significant trend for increasing use of erythropoietin and by 1996, 96% of patients were prescribed this medication at initiation of dialysis. There was also a modest, but significant, increase in hematocrit in the dialysis registry, as the median hematocrit at 6 months of follow-up was 31% in patients who started dialysis between 1997 and 2000 (P<0.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the North American Renal Transplant Cooperative Study (NAPRTCS) database, we performed a retrospective cohort study of 986 pediatric renal transplant recipients (index transplant 1997-2000) who were treated either with Cyclosporine A (CSA), Mycophenolate Mofetil (MMF) and steroids (n = 766) or tacrolimus (TAC), MMF and steroids (n = 220) to examine potential difference in clinical outcomes between these two groups. In the first year post-transplant, time to first rejection (29.1% vs. 29%, p = 0.840), risk for rejection [Adjusted Relative Risk (aRR) 1.01, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.77, 1.323], graft survival (96.8% vs. 97.9%, p = 0.607) and risk for graft failure (aRR 0.988, 95% CI 0.64, 1.928) were not significantly different in TAC and CSA-treated patients. At 2 yr post-transplant, there was also no difference in risk for rejection (aRR 0.918, 95% CI 0.669, 1.259), graft survival (91.4% vs. 95.1%, p = 0.152) and risk for graft failure (aRR 0.702, 95% CI 0.461, 1.762) in the subset of 391 CSA-treated patients and 77 TAC-treated patients on whom 2 yr follow data were available in the database. TAC-treated patients were significantly less likely to require antihypertensive medication at 1 yr [aRR 0.74 (95% CI 0.454, 0.637)] and 2 yr post-transplant [aRR 0.67 (95% CI 0.56, 0.793)]. At 1 yr post-transplant, TAC-treated patients enjoyed a higher mean GFR as estimated by the Schwartz formula [89.1 mL/min/1.73 m(2) (SE 2.64) vs. 78.6 mL/min/1.73 m(2) (SE 1.07), p = 0.0003]. In addition, in the subset of patients with 2 yr of follow-up, TAC patients had a higher mean GFR at both 1 yr [98.6 mL/min/1.73 m(2) (SE 3.83) vs. 78.0 mL/min/1.73 m(2) (SE 1.44), p = 0.0003] and 2 yr post-transplant [96.7 mL/min/1.73 m(2) (SE 3.33) vs. 73.2 mL/min/1.73 m(2) (SE 1.48), p < 0.0001]. In summary, TAC and CSA, in combination with MMF and steroids, produce similar rejection rates and graft survival in pediatric renal transplant recipients. However, TAC is associated with improved graft function at 1 and 2 yr post-transplant. Further analysis as more patient data are obtained will be necessary to determine if this difference in graft function persists and translates into improved graft survival.