Study Background & Purpose

Background

Women with chronic renal failure usually do not ovulate and thus are unable to conceive. Following kidney transplantation, normal menses and ovulatory cycles return as renal function improves. Many female organ transplant recipients have conceived and born children. The course of pregnancy and delivery in kidney transplant patients has been relatively normal in most cases.

Immunosuppressive medications are continued during the transplant patient’s pregnancy because they are necessary to prevent rejection of the kidney. The baby is also exposed to these medications as they cross the placenta. Most of these babies have been healthy at birth and through early childhood. Since the ovaries of the female children are also exposed to immunosuppressive drugs during their mothers’ pregnancies, it has been proposed that any alterations produced in their genes would not become manifest until they produce children.

There have been no long-term studies on the children of renal transplant patients, and many are themselves now of reproductive age. Potential long-term and currently unrecognized disorders might surface at puberty, at the time of their own pregnancies, and later in adult life. Because this group of women is not followed by any one physician, isolated disturbances might not be recognized.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to confirm the safety of immunosuppressive drugs during pregnancy and to identify any unrecognized health or reproductive problems in daughters of kidney transplant patients.