Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
2007 JASN IMPACT FACTOR 7.111 HOME   AUTHOR INFO   EDITORIAL BOARD   SUBSCRIBE   FEEDBACK   ALERTS   HELP 
    advanced
CURRENT ISSUE ARCHIVES JASN Express ONLINE SUBMISSION


This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hricik, D. E.
Right arrow Articles by First, M. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hricik, D. E.
Right arrow Articles by First, M. R.

Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Vol 4, S10-S16, Copyright © 1994 by American Society of Nephrology

REVIEWS

Steroid-free immunosuppression after renal transplantation

DE Hricik, WL Kupin and MR First
Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.

Concerns about the side effects of chronic steroid therapy have prompted increasing interest in steroid-free immunosuppression for renal transplant recipients who are maintained on cyclosporine-based regimens. Studies to date suggest that at least 50% of cyclosporine- treated patients can be managed without steroid therapy. Reported benefits of avoiding or withdrawing steroid therapy have included improvements in hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and glucose intolerance and accelerated growth in children. Whether these effects will increase patient or allograft survival remains to be proved. Furthermore, the benefits of steroid-free immunosuppression must be weighed against the risk of precipitating allograft rejection. Although the elimination of steroids clearly increases the short-term risk of acute rejection, further studies are needed to determine the effects of steroid-free immunosuppression on long-term allograft function and to identify clinical or immunologic factors that can predict a successful outcome after the elimination of steroids.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Am. Soc. Nephrol.Home page
P Merkel, G. Lo, J. Holbrook, A. Tibbs, N. Allen, J. Davis, G. Hoffman, W. McCune, E. St Clair, U Specks, et al.
Thromboembolism--Another Threat to the Polymorbid Patient with Vasculitis?: High Incidence of Venous Thrombotic Events among Patients with Wegener Granulomatosis: The Wegener's Clinical Occurrence of Thrombosis (WeCLOT) Study. Ann Intern Med 142: 620-626, 2005
J. Am. Soc. Nephrol., July 1, 2005; 16(7): 1871 - 1877.
[Full Text] [PDF]


HOME CURRENT ISSUE ARCHIVES JASN Express ONLINE SUBMISSION AUTHOR INFO
EDITORIAL BOARD SUBSCRIBE FEEDBACK ALERTS HELP

Copyright © 2008 by the American Society of Nephrology. Online ISSN: 1533-3450 Print ISSN: 1046-6673