MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES IN PROPHYLACTIC IMMUNOSUPPRESSION AFTER LIVER TRANSPLANTATION A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL COMPARING OKT3 AND ANTI-IL-2 RECEPTOR MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY LO-TACT-1

A group of 195 consecutive adult patients who received a primary orthotopic liver allograft were reviewed retrospectively to analyze the incidence of rejection, the response to antirejection therapy, and the impact of acute rejection on the development of ductopenic rejection. The diagnosis of acute rejection (AR) was based on a combination of clinical and histological criteria, and 69.7% of the patients had at least one episode of acute rejection. Only 6.7% of the patients failed to respond to steroids and were treated with OKT3. Four (2.3%) patients developed acute vanishing bile duct syndrome (within 60 days) and 6 (3.5%) patients developed chronic rejection. Eight patients who spontaneously recovered from AR without additional immunosuppression are described in detail. In addition to histological damage, all developed