Post renal transplant thrombotic microangiopathy: A single centre experience

Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) is a rare complication of renal transplantation. This study is a review of our experience of seven cases of TMA occurring between 1986 and 1995, an incidence of 0.8%. One patient had a recurrence of TMA in her graft having an episode of haemolytic uraemic syndrome as the cause of her original kidney failure. The other six patients had a rejection episode either at the time of diagnosis of TMA or a mean of 12 days prior to the diagnosis of TMA. All patients were treated with plasma exchange and those on cyclosporin had their dose reduced. Two patients had graft loss while the remainder had successful outcomes with stable graft function 3-11 years post diagnosis of TMA. We conclude that, in our experience rejection played a prominent role in the disease pathogenesis and that cyclosporin could be continued successfully albeit at a reduced dosage.