One thousand consecutive primary orthotopic liver transplants under FK 506: survival and adverse events.

Abstract

FK 506 (Tacrolimus, Prograf™) has been recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for baseline immunosuppression following orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The drug was first used clinically in 1989,1 and 1 year later at the Thirteenth International Congress of Transplantation Society, San Francisco, CA, 1990, extensive reports were given from our center describing the potential value of this drug in clinical transplantation.2–5 We have so far treated 1497 primary liver transplant recipients with FK 506 and an additional 512 patients who were converted to FK 506 from cyclosporine (CyA). This report will focus on the first 1000 consecutive primary OLTs in the series. The parameters examined were patient and graft survival, causes of death and retransplant, effect of age, United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) status, level of maintenance immunosuppression, and adverse events.