Background: Late antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) has worse prognosis than early ABMR. The objective of this study was to examine the clinical and pathological features of late acute ABMR in our experience.
Method: We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent kidney transplantation (KT) between January 2001 and December 2012. Patients who had glomerulitis and/or peritubular capillaritis on kidney biopsy performed 6 months after KT were enrolled.
Results: Of 592 patients, late acute ABMR was diagnosed in 34 cases (5.74%) with a mean onset of 49.2 ± 30.2 months post-KT. Six patients (17.6%) had nonadherence. Allograft histopathology demonstrated concomitant transplant glomerulopathy in 23 patients (67.6%) and positive peritubular C4d staining in 25 patients (73.5%). Donor-specific antibody (DSA) was detected in 25 patients (73.5%). Anti-HLA class II antibody was more prevalent than class I (67.6% vs 20.6%; P = .003) and most of them were anti-HLA DQ. We prescribed intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) 1-2 g/kg for 30 patients (88.2%), plasma exchange (PE) for 27 patients (79.4%), and rituximab 375 mg/m(2) for 18 patients (52.9%). We repeated treatment with PE and IVIG in 12 refractory cases. For clinical outcome, 21 patients (61.7%) had deterioration of graft function; 9 of them (26.5%) eventually lost their graft. Thirteen patients (38.2%) had stable graft function.
Conclusion: Late acute ABMR has unsatisfactory prognosis in spite of aggressive standard antihumoral treatment. Surveillance of late ABMR using DSA monitoring may be helpful in early detection and management.
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