Background
Although cytopenia is common during the first few months following transplantation
owing to induction and maintenance immunosuppressant, little is known about the
prevalence of cytopenia in transplant patients beyond the first 6 months after
transplantations. Thus, we conducted the present study to investigate the
prevalence of chronic cytopenia in renal transplant recipients.
Patients and methods
This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out on 81 kidney transplant
recipients in the renal transplant clinic at Sohag University Hospital during the
period from February 2018 to February 2019. A nonprobability consecutive
sampling technique was employed to recruit eligible patients.
Results
Regarding study outcomes, we found that 44.4% of our study group had anemia,
38.3% had normocytic anemia, and 6.2% had microcytic anemia. Regarding the
degree of anemia, 17.3% of the patients had severe anemia, 17.3% had mild
anemia, and 9.9% had moderate anemia. In addition, 3.7% of the study groups had
leukopenia and 1.2% had leukocytosis. Regarding platelets, only one (1.2%)
patient had thrombocytosis.
Conclusion
Chronic posttransplantation cytopenia is a common complication after kidney
transplantation, especially anemia. Therefore, it is recommended that physicians
involved in renal transplantation consider the investigation and follow-up of
transplant recipients for posttransplantation cytopenia and adopt appropriate
preventive and therapeutic measures. In addition, we recommend further
studies on a larger number of patients, with focus on the link between
posttransplantation cytopenia and mortality.