Abstract

BACKGROUND: Even though renal transplantation across blood groups is not uncommonly practiced nowadays, there is still hesitation regarding ABO-incompatible transplantation with very high baseline antibody titer. In this case report, the outcome of an ABO-incompatible kidney transplant recipient with a high baseline isoagglutinin titer is reported.

CASE REPORT: The patient was a non-diabetic, 33-year-old man with end-stage renal disease secondary to chronic glomerulonephritis. The only kidney donor available was his mother, who was blood-group incompatible. The patient’s blood group was O positive, whereas his mother was B positive. We evaluated him for an ABO-incompatible renal transplant. The baseline anti-B isoagglutinin titer was >1:8196.  With a desensitization protocol of low-dose Rituximab, plasmapheresis, and IVIG, this titer was brought down to 1:32 before transplantation. He successfully underwent renal transplantation across the ABO barrier, and maintains good graft function after 1 year of follow-up. 

CONCLUSIONS: In the present era, a high baseline isoagglutinin titer is no longer a contraindication for successful kidney transplantation in ABO-incompatible recipient-donor pairs.

Keywords: Antibody Formation, Preconditioning Protocol, Kidney Transplantation