Hepatitis B surface antigenemia in renal transplant recipients. Increased mortality risk

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Abstract
To determine effects of circulating hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) on patient survival following renal transplantation, 168 recipients of cadaveric grafts were studied in whom HBsAg status was defined at transplantation by comparison of survivorships determined by actuarial life-table methods. Survival in HBsAg-positive recipients, as compared with those who were HBsAg-negative at the time of transplantation, was markedly diminished. Although graft survival app eared to be favored in the HBsAg-positive group in the early post-transplant period, the apparent protective effect was lost at 9 mo. after grafting and thereafter due to increased mortality in the HBsAg-positive recipients. Deaths in the antigenemic subjects were principally due to infections other than hepatitis and to cardiovascular events. Pre-existing HBs antigenemia forebodies an ominous outcome for immunosuppressed renal transplant recipients, although hepatic disorders do not account for most deaths.

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