J Korean Surg Soc.  2011 Jun;80(Suppl 1):S36-S39. 10.4174/jkss.2011.80.Suppl1.S36.

Graft-versus-host disease after kidney transplantation

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. kmhyj111@skku.edu
  • 2Department of Pathology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
  • 3Department of Laboratory Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
  • 4Organ Transplant Center, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a rare complication after kidney transplantation. We describe a 62-year-old female with end-stage renal disease due to hypertension. She received a kidney with 4 mismatched human leukocyte antigen (HLA) out of 6 HLA - A, B, DR from a deceased donor. After the procedure, the patient showed watery diarrhea on postoperative day (POD) 45. An endoscopic biopsy of the colon revealed some apoptotic cells consistent with GVHD. Thrombocytopenia was gradually developed on POD 54. She received steroid pulse therapy, and thrombocytopenia did not progress. However, pneumonia, renal failure, and cardiac failure occurred. She died due to multiple organ failure. We must consider GVHD in renal transplant recipients without homozygous or identical HLA, who had only watery diarrhea without other typical GVHD symptoms such as skin rash and fever, although GVHD is rare in renal transplant recipients.

Keyword

Graft-versus-host disease; Human leukocyte antigen; Kidney donation; Kidney transplantation

MeSH Terms

Biopsy
Colon
Diarrhea
Exanthema
Female
Fever
Graft vs Host Disease
Heart Failure
Humans
Hypertension
Kidney
Kidney Failure, Chronic
Kidney Transplantation
Leukocytes
Middle Aged
Multiple Organ Failure
Pneumonia
Renal Insufficiency
Thrombocytopenia
Tissue Donors

Figure

  • Fig. 1 Colonic biopsy specimen from patient shows acute graft versus host disease (GVHD). GVHD of the colon characterized rare intraepithelial lymphocytes in the absence of substantial inflammation, extensive crypt destruction in the lamina propria (A), and apoptotic cells (arrow) (B).

  • Fig. 2 Amelogenin analysis. (A) There are two band peaks in male, the control. (B) Graph of recipient showed only 1 band peak at 104 base pair.


Reference

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