Short-Term Kidney Transplant Success Soars, Report Says

The short-term outcomes of kidney transplant patients have improved significantly over the last decade, according to a study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine. Between 1988 and 1996, tthe one-year survival rate for grafts from living donors increased from 88.8% to 93.9%. The survival rate for grafts from cadavers improved from 75.7% to 87.7%, according to a team headquartered at the Medical College of Wisconsin. About 12,000 kidney transplants are performed in the United states each year. The team attributed the improvements to advances in anti-rejection drugs.

--Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II