Oxalate Nephropathy After Kidney Transplantation: Risk Factors and Outcomes of Two Phenotypes

Abstract

Describing risk factors and outcomes in kidney transplant recipients with oxalate nephropathy (ON) may help elucidate the pathogenesis and guide treatment strategies. We used a large single-center database to identify patients with ON and categorized them into delayed graft function with ON (DGF-ON) and late ON. Incidence density sampling was used to select controls. A total of 37 ON cases were diagnosed between 1/2011 and 1/2021. DGF-ON (n = 13) was diagnosed in 1.05% of the DGF population. Pancreatic atrophy on imaging (36.4% vs. 2.9%, p = 0.002) and gastric bypass history (7.7% vs. 0%; p = 0.06) were more common in DGF-ON than with controls with DGF requiring biopsy but without evidence of ON. DGF-ON was not associated with worse graft survival (p = 0.98) or death-censored graft survival (p = 0.48). Late ON (n = 24) was diagnosed after a mean of 78.2 months. Late ON patients were older (mean age 55.1 vs. 48.4 years; p = 0.02), more likely to be women (61.7% vs. 37.5%; p = 0.03), have gastric bypass history (8.3% vs. 0.8%; p = 0.02) and pancreatic atrophy on imaging (38.9% vs. 13.3%; p = 0.02). Late ON was associated with an increased risk of graft failure (HR 2.0; p = 0.07) and death-censored graft loss (HR 2.5; p = 0.10). We describe two phenotypes of ON after kidney transplantation: DGF-ON and late ON. Our study is the first to our knowledge to evaluate DGF-ON with DGF controls without ON. Although limited by small sample size, DGF-ON was not associated with adverse outcomes when compared with controls. Late ON predicted worse allograft outcomes.