Abstract

Many heart transplant recipients experience declining kidney function following transplantation. We aimed toquantify change in kidney function in heart transplant recipients stratified by pre-transplant kidney function. 230 adult heart transplant recipients between May 1, 2008 and December 31, 2014 were evaluated for up to 5 years post-transplant (median 1 year). Using 19,398 total eGFR assessments, we evaluated trends in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in recipients with normal/near normal (eGFR >45 mL/min/1.73m2 ) versus impaired (eGFR <45 mL/min/1.73m2 ) kidney function and the likelihood of reaching an eGFR of 20 mL/min/1.73m2 after heart transplant. Baseline characteristics were similar. Immediately following heart transplant, the impaired pre-transplant kidney function group showed a mean eGFR gain of 9.5mL/min/1.73m2 (n=193) versus a mean decline of 4.9 mL/min/1.73m2 (n=37) in the normal/near normal group. Subsequent rates of eGFR decline were 2.2 mL/min/1.73m2 /yrversus2.9 mL/min/1.73m2 /yr, respectively. The probability of reaching an eGFR of 20 mL/min/1.73m2 or less at 1, 5, and 10 years following heart transplant was 1%, 4% and 30% in the impaired group, and <1%, <1%, and 10% in the normal/near normal group. Estimates of expected recovery in kidney function and its decline over time will help inform decision making about kidney care after heart transplantation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

View details for DOI 10.1111/ctr.13414

View details for PubMedID 30240515