Surgery Publications
Title
Use of OKT3 Monoclonal Antibody as Induction Therapy for Control of Rejection in Liver Transplantation
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1995
Journal
Digestive Diseases and Sciences
Volume
40
Issue
1
First Page
52
Last Page
57
URL with Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02063941
Abstract
This report details a single center's experience with OKT3 induction immunosuppression for liver transplantation. One hundred ninety-nine consecutive, unselected adult liver recipients received OKT3 therapy for 9-10 days combined with low-dose steroids and azathioprine. Cyclosporine was begun to overlap with the last few days of OKT3 therapy. The average dose of OKT3 was 45 mg. Fifty-two patients (26.1%) experienced 57 episodes of acute rejection. The median time of onset of rejection was 18 days after grafting. Seventy-eight percent of the rejection episodes were steroid-sensitive. Recurrent rejection was uncommon and the need for OKT3 retreatment was infrequent. One year actuarial graft and patient survival was 79.7% and 82.3% respectively. Based on this evidence, it appears that OKT3 prophylaxis provides good control of acute rejection with a very low incidence of recurrent rejection.
Notes
Dr. Vivian McAlister is currently a faculty member at The University of Western Ontario.