TY - JOUR T1 - Rabbit Antithymocyte Globulin Induction in Heart Transplant Recipients at High Risk for Rejection JF - Ochsner Journal JO - Ochsner J SP - 133 LP - 138 DO - 10.31486/toj.20.0024 VL - 21 IS - 2 AU - Brent Kitto AU - Steven Thai AU - Brooke Baetz AU - Hamang M. Patel AU - Stacy A. Mandras AU - Sapna Desai AU - Selim R. Krim Y1 - 2021/06/20 UR - http://www.ochsnerjournal.org/content/21/2/133.abstract N2 - Background: Induction with lymphocyte-depleting antibodies may improve allograft outcomes in heart transplant recipients who are at high immunologic risk for rejection.Methods: We conducted a single-center retrospective cohort study that compared outcomes between adult patients receiving rabbit antithymocyte globulin (rATG) induction vs no induction from 2011 through 2017. Key exclusion criteria were patients who did not receive tacrolimus and mycophenolate and patients who did not meet high immunologic risk criteria.Results: A total of 50 patients were included in the analysis. At 1 year, the composite primary outcome of ≥2R rejection as defined by the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, any treated rejection, development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy, or graft loss was not different between groups (P=0.474). Serious infections were also similar between groups (P=0.963). In accordance with institutional guidelines, prednisone exposure was decreased in the rATG induction group at 1 month (24.04 mg ± 13.74 vs 35.18 mg ± 16.95; P=0.014).Conclusion: These results suggest that while rATG induction does not improve heart allograft outcomes, it may enable reducing early corticosteroid exposure in patients at high immunologic risk. ER -