Post-transplant erythrocytosis and thromboembolic events: an error

Amir Kazory

Department of Nephrology and Renal Transplantation Saint-Jacques University Hospital Besançon France Email: akazory{at}aol.com

Sir,

European guidelines for long-term management of the transplant patients were published in your journal in 2002. Section IV.9.3 of these guidelines discusses post-transplant erythrocytosis [1]. It refers to the paper of Wickre et al. [2] and claims that: ‘One study in 53 polycythaemic transplant patients failed to find any increased incidence of thromboembolic events’. In fact, upon reviewing the original article of Wickre et al., one finds that the results of this study and the conclusion of the authors are exactly the opposite of the above-mentioned statement. They studied a series of 53 renal transplant patients with erythrocytosis, and compared them with a matched control group of 49 recipients. Over a follow-up period of 3.5 years, 11 thromboembolic events occurred in 10 of the 53 erythrocytosis patients, but none in the control group (P < 0.001). They then concluded that the incidence of thromboembolic events is significantly increased in transplant recipients with erythrocytosis. This finding was later confirmed by other studies [3].

I believe that this petite erreur merits correction even 1 year after publication, because it appeared in the ‘guidelines’, which are often read and used for a long time by many readers.

Conflict of interest statement. None declared.

References

  1. EBPG Expert Group on Renal Transplantation. European best practice guidelines for renal transplantation. Section IV: long-term management of the renal transplant recipient. IV.9.3 Haematological complications. Erythrocytosis. Nephrol Dial Transplant 2002; 17 [Suppl 4]: 49–50
  2. Wickre CG, Norman DJ, Bennison A et al. Postrenal transplant erythrocytosis: a review of 53 patients. Kidney Int 1983; 23: 731–737[ISI][Medline]
  3. Hestin D, Legrand E, Mertes M et al. Polycythemia after kidney transplantation. Presse Med 1992; 21: 1973–1974[ISI][Medline]




This Article
Extract
FREE Full Text (PDF)
Alert me when this article is cited
Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Email this article to a friend
Similar articles in this journal
Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Similar articles in PubMed
Alert me to new issues of the journal
Add to My Personal Archive
Download to citation manager
Disclaimer
Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Articles by Kazory, A.
PubMed
PubMed Citation
Articles by Kazory, A.