TORONTO—Legislation aimed at increasing rates of live kidney donation has not substantially improved those rates, researchers concluded.

TORONTO—Kidney transplant patients who use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are less likely than others to adhere to their prescribed drug regimens, according to study findings presented here at the 2008 American Transplant Congress.

SAN FRANCISCO—Nephrologists should consider a switch to tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil (TacMMF) in diabetic patients undergoing clinical islet transplantation (CIT) who are unable to tolerate sirolimus, Canadian researchers said.

TORONTO—Twelve-month results of the Spare-the-Nephron study show that a regimen that spares calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) can improve renal allograft function and glomerular filtration rate (GFR).

TORONTO—Long-term data show that kidney donors have a lifespan and hypertension rate comparable to the general population.

POST-TRANSPLANT distal limb syndrome (PTDLS), an uncommon complication in renal transplant recipients, is associated with a rise in alkaline phosphatase, a finding that could aid in diagnosis, according to researchers.

Patient weight changes after renal transplantation may be a marker for poor survival, data suggest.

RENAL GRAFT LOSS is less likely among transplant recipients who are employed full time when they get their kidneys and at one year postoperatively, according to researchers.

Renal transplant recipients have similar death-censored graft survival regardless of age, according to researchers in Norway.

UNIVERSAL ACCESS to health care might help to overcome racial and ethnic barriers to treatment for kidney disease, according to two studies.