Kidney Transplantation 2: Care of the Kidney Transplant Recipient

Renal transplantation is the preferred therapy for patients with end-stage kidney disease, leading to increased life expectancy, improved quality of life, and reduced health care resource use. Owing to their preexisting burden of disease, caring for renal transplant recipients is complex. Patient management following successful renal transplantation involves a multifactorial approach to cardiovascular risk factor management, along with titration of immunosuppression, management of complications related to immunosuppression, and active monitoring of allograft function. Recent advances in immunosuppressive management hold promise for improved long-term allograft survival. Finally, immune monitoring of transplant recipients is an area of considerable research, with the ultimate aim of individualized management of immunosuppression and the ability to induce transplant-specific tolerance. This review contains 7 figures, 11 tables, and 119 references. Key words: cardiovascular disease, drug interactions, immunosuppression, infection, interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy, malignancy, rejection, tolerance