The first child born to a transplant recipient turned 48 yearsold on March 10, 2006.1 When the field of transplantation wasfirst developing, physicians worried about the teratogenicityof immunosuppressive medications2 and considered pregnancy ill-advised.3,4Despite early concerns, approximately 14,000 births among womenwith transplanted organs have been reported worldwide,5 andmany more have assuredly occurred. Pregnancy is now an expectedpart of the benefits afforded to women by organ transplantation.
However, substantial gaps remain in our knowledge about pregnancyin the transplant recipient and its effects on the child. Asdiscussed in an article by Ross that appears . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Sources of Information about Pregnancy in Transplant Recipients
Fertility, End-Stage Disease, and Transplantation
Optimal Timing of Pregnancy after Transplantation
Risk of Pregnancy Complications in the Transplant Recipient
Hypertension and Preeclampsia in Pregnant Kidney-Transplant Recipients
Hypertension and Preeclampsia in Pregnant Recipients of Other Solid-Organ Transplants
Risk of Allograft Loss
Pregnancy and the Risk of Rejection
Immunosuppressive Medications and the MaternalFetal Circulation
Immunosuppressive Medications and the Fetus
Toxic Effects of Immunosuppressive Agents in Pregnancy
Structural Malformations in Animal Models
Structural Malformations in Children of Transplant Recipients
Drug-Induced Immunologic Abnormalities in the Fetus and Newborn
Long-Term Consequences of in Utero Exposure to Immunosuppressive Medications
Breast-Feeding by Mothers Receiving Immunosuppressive Medication
Conclusions
Source Information
From the Department of Immunology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif. (D.B.M.); and the Department of Medicine, Section of Nephrology, University of Chicago, Chicago (M.A.J.).
Address reprint requests to Dr. McKay at the Department of Immunology, Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Rd., La Jolla, CA 92037, or at dmckay@scripps.edu.
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