High Incidence of Rejection Episodes and Poor Tolerance of Sirolimus in a Protocol With Early Steroid Withdrawal and Calcineurin Inhibitor–Free Maintenance Therapy in Renal Transplantation: Experiences of a Randomized Prospective Single-Center Study

Immunosuppressive maintenance therapy after kidney transplantation leads to various undesired side effects such as calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-associated nephrotoxicity or elevated cardiovascular risk due to posttransplantation diabetes and hypertension. These effects show negative impacts on long-term allograft function as well as patient morbidity and mortality. Therefore, we used an immunosuppressive regimen with early corticosteroid...