Background: Kidney stones have been reported to occur after childhood cancer, but little is known about kidney stones in children following hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). The objective of this retrospective study was to determine risk factors for the development of kidney stones and to describe the prevalence among survivors.
Procedure: The study included 1,343 childhood HCT patients. Mean follow-up was 15.8 (1.0-40.0) years. Patients were treated with total body irradiation (TBI) (n = 948) or non-TBI regimens. Methotrexate (MTX) for acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis was given as long-course (n = 360), short-course (n = 626), or none (n = 357). Prednisone for chronic GVHD therapy was received by 525 patients. Multivariate Cox regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) of risk factors associated with kidney stones.
Results: Kidney stones developed in 51 patients, a median of 9.9 (0.2-29.4) years after first HCT, with a 30-year cumulative incidence of 7.4%. Risk factors associated with kidney stones were TBI (HR = 2.2; P = 0.03), age at HCT (12-18 vs. <6 years, HR = 2.7; P = 0.01), MTX (long vs. none, HR = 3.6; P = 0.02), and prednisone (HR = 2.2; P = 0.008). Among 868 survivors, the prevalence of a history of kidney stones was 4.7%.
Conclusions: Survivors of childhood HCT have an increased risk of developing kidney stones.
Keywords: hematopoietic cell transplantation; methotrexate; nephrolithiasis; prednisone; total body irradiation.
© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.