Editorial
Muhammed Mubarak
Abstract
Renal transplantation is the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) from a variety of causes. Although the short term results of renal transplantation have improved remarkably during the recent past, the long term outcomes have not improved to the same extent [1]. The long term success is marred by the occurrence of gradual onset of the often irreversible graft parenchymal scarring process, previously called as chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN), and now replaced by the term interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy (IF/TA) by the Banff group [2]. The later complication is multifactorial in origin and is the final common pathway resulting from both immune and non-immune mechanisms of graft injury [1,2]. Among the non-immune causes, the occurrence of recurrent or de novo renal diseases, especially the glomerulopathies, is of particular concern, as the frequency of this complication tends to rise with increasing post transplantation duration and is one of the major causes of IF/TA in the long run.