Thymoglobulin Induction Therapy in Kidney Transplant Patients Receiving Organs Donated after Cardiac Death in China: A Real-World Patient-Level Pooled Analysis of the T-DCD and Start-DCD Studies

BACKGROUND: Thymoglobulin is used in kidney transplantation as an induction therapy to prevent acute rejections; however, studies and data to support thymoglobulin induction therapy in Chinese patients undergoing kidney transplant with donation after cardiac death (DCD) kidneys remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated the clinical outcomes of thymoglobulin induction therapy in recipients of DCD kidney transplant in real-world clinical practice. METHODS: This pooled analysis from the T-DCD and START-DCD studies was conducted to investigate acute rejection (AR), biopsy-proven AR (BPAR), delayed graft function (DGF), and graft and patient survival at 6 months in patients undergoing DCD kidney transplantation in the pooled population, in subgroups receiving thymoglobulin doses of