Report from the National Transplantation Pregnancy Registry: outcomes of pregnancy after transplantation. 2006

Vincent T Armenti, and John A Daller, and Serban Constantinescu, and Patricio Silva, and John S Radomski, and Michael J Moritz, and William J Gaughan, and Carolyn H McGrory, and Lisa A Coscia
Department of Surgery, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Experience in the field of pregnancy posttransplantation has been gained through continued case reports, center reports, and registry data. The NTPR maintains an ongoing active database to study the safety of pregnancy and includes the outcomes of female transplant recipients as well as male recipients who father pregnancies. Analyses are ongoing and include long-term followup of recipients' graft status and of their offspring. For the most part, guidelines proposed in 1976 for counseling recipients remain applicable (30). While these counseling guidelines were formulated for kidney recipients, they may be extrapolated to other organ recipients as well. Organ-specific issues should also be considered in managing and counseling female transplant recipients. Recipients should be in general good health, and graft function should be stable and, ideally, rejection-free. There should be optimal control of comorbid conditions such as hypertension and diabetes prior to conception. While the shortest safe interval from transplant to conception has not been established, 1 year is a reasonable milestone, given the prerequisites of stable, adequate graft function and maintenance-level immunosuppression. During pregnancy, maintenance-medication regimens should be continued with vigilant monitoring for effective drug levels and drug side effects with appropriate dose adjustment. These pregnancies are high-risk and require close maternal and fetal surveillance through coordinated care among maternal-fetal medicine specialists and transplant personnel. Of the live born reported to the NTPR, a higher incidence of structural malformations has been seen with MMF exposures during pregnancy when compared with the overall kidney transplant recipient offspring group. Three of the four defects included microtia (ear deformity), suggesting a pattern of malformations. However, live-born outcomes without structural malformations have also been noted in the MMF cohort. No structural defects have yet been reported with early pregnancy sirolimus exposures in a limited number of recipients evaluated. Limitations in assessing congenital malformation risk and MMF exposure include methodology and potential reporting bias, small sample size, and our inability to exclude other comorbid factors such as non-immunosuppressive drug effects or other susceptibilities in this population. It is incumbent upon transplant professionals to be aware of any additional risk to the fetus from immunosuppressive medications relative to the potential improvement in maternal graft function/survival conferred by each of these agents. Given the ongoing concerns with the newer immunosuppressive agents, clinicians are responsible for providing pregnancy counseling in all pre- and post-transplant recipients of childbearing age. Centers are encouraged to report all pregnancy exposures in transplant recipients to the NTPR. Future analyses from the NTPR are directed at potential effects of these newer immunosuppressive regimens, not only from immediate exposure but also from continued exposure that may occur from breastfeeding. As the registry study design allows for contact between registry staff and recipients and their health care providers, efforts are ongoing to analyze the long-term outcomes of parents and children. Continued close collaboration among specialists will help to better identify potential pregnancy risks in these populations, particularly as new immunosuppressive agents are developed. The fiftieth anniversary of the first post-transplant pregnancy (reported by Joseph Murray et al.) (31) will be in March 2008. With this important date approaching and with ongoing pregnancy issues concerning post-transplant pregnancy safety, this is an ideal time to raise awareness of the need for continued worldwide cooperation for data collection. Enhanced assessment of pregnancy safety is essential to the development of guidelines for counseling and management of pregnancy in the transplant population.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007231 Infant, Newborn An infant during the first 28 days after birth. Neonate,Newborns,Infants, Newborn,Neonates,Newborn,Newborn Infant,Newborn Infants
D008297 Male Males
D011247 Pregnancy The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH. Gestation,Pregnancies
D011256 Pregnancy Outcome Results of conception and ensuing pregnancy, including LIVE BIRTH; STILLBIRTH; or SPONTANEOUS ABORTION. The outcome may follow natural or artificial insemination or any of the various ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNIQUES, such as EMBRYO TRANSFER or FERTILIZATION IN VITRO. Outcome, Pregnancy,Outcomes, Pregnancy,Pregnancy Outcomes
D001724 Birth Weight The mass or quantity of heaviness of an individual at BIRTH. It is expressed by units of pounds or kilograms. Birthweight,Birth Weights,Birthweights,Weight, Birth,Weights, Birth
D001942 Breast Feeding The nursing of an infant at the breast. Breast Fed,Breastfed,Milk Sharing,Wet Nursing,Breast Feeding, Exclusive,Breastfeeding,Breastfeeding, Exclusive,Exclusive Breast Feeding,Exclusive Breastfeeding,Sharing, Milk
D005260 Female Females
D005298 Fertility The capacity to conceive or to induce conception. It may refer to either the male or female. Fecundity,Below Replacement Fertility,Differential Fertility,Fecundability,Fertility Determinants,Fertility Incentives,Fertility Preferences,Fertility, Below Replacement,Marital Fertility,Natural Fertility,Subfecundity,World Fertility Survey,Determinant, Fertility,Determinants, Fertility,Fertility Determinant,Fertility Incentive,Fertility Preference,Fertility Survey, World,Fertility Surveys, World,Fertility, Differential,Fertility, Marital,Fertility, Natural,Preference, Fertility,Preferences, Fertility,Survey, World Fertility,Surveys, World Fertility,World Fertility Surveys
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D016027 Heart Transplantation The transference of a heart from one human or animal to another. Cardiac Transplantation,Grafting, Heart,Transplantation, Cardiac,Transplantation, Heart,Cardiac Transplantations,Graftings, Heart,Heart Grafting,Heart Graftings,Heart Transplantations,Transplantations, Cardiac,Transplantations, Heart

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