Renal transplantation in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection: a literature review

Abstract

Kidney transplantation is the recommended treatment for end-stage chronic kidney disease, improving patients’ quality of life and survival compared to dialysis. Nevertheless, to keep a functional graft and avoid rejection, strong immunosuppression is required during the graft’s lifetime, which can lead to complications such as increased susceptibility to infections, development of cancer, metabolic changes and cardiovascular problems. Patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus are at high risk of developing endstag renal disease. Previous this century, kidney transplantation was considered contraindicated for these patients group. However nowa-days, kidney transplantation is a therapeutic option for well-selected patients and with well-established treatment protocols. Several studies reported a three-year graft survival rate of 88,2% and patient survival of 82,6%. In this article, we present an overview of the worldwide experience with the treatment of kidney transplant patients with HIV infection.

Keywords

• acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
• hiv
• kidney transplantation
• renal insufficiency chronic