Non-invasive monitoring of graft dysfunction after renal transplantation

Episodes of renal allograft dysfunction are common events following transplantation. As acute rejection is more likely to be successfully reversed at an early stage, physicians crave for highly sensitive and specific diagnostic tools to achieve an accurate, fast and specific diagnosis. This article reviews data on non-invasive monitoring. Due to the mass of articles in this field, not every study could be mentioned. Those studies were selected which examined the first or most important approach towards an understanding of the diagnostic tools. Cytokine detection as well as strictly virological or bacteriological diagnostics were not included. Based on the literature available, non-invasive monitoring is useful in many cases, but a biopsy remains the gold standard.