Relationship between Post-kidney Transplantation Antithymocyte Globulin Therapy and Wound Healing Complications

Background: Wound healing disorders are probably the most common post-transplantation surgical complications.It is thought that wound healing disturbance occurs due to antiproliferative effects of immunosuppressivedrugs. On the other hand, success of transplantation is dependent on immunosuppressivetherapies. Antihuman thymocyte globulin (ATG) has been widely used as induction therapy but the impactof this treatment on wound healing is not fully understood.Objective: To investigate wound healing complications after ATG therapy in renal transplant recipients.Methods: The medical records of 333 kidney transplant recipients were assessed for wound healing disorders.Among these patients, 92 received ATG and 5 doses of 1.5 mg/kg ATG along with the standardprotocol of drugs.Results: The mean age of patients was 38.9 years. Of 333 recipients, 92 (23.7%) received ATG; 21 (6.3%)developed wound healing complications. There was a significant relationship between ATG therapy andwound complications (p=0.034). Also, women were more likely to develop wound healing disorders thanmen (p=0.002). No statistical difference was observed between age and wound healing complication(p=0.28). There was no significant difference between the mean duration of hospitalization between ATGand Non-ATG group (p=0.9).Conclusion: ATG increases the risk of overall wound complications. It is needed to pay more attention tothe patients treated with this immunosuppressant to avoid the risk of re-interventions, lessen the durationof hospitalization and decrease the impairment of graft function.