Issues in Immunosuppression Affecting Outcomes in Renal Transplantation

Please Note: This CME activity has expired. You may continue to view the material for educational purposes, but this activity is no longer eligible for CME credit.

Course Objectives:
This CME/CE-certified monograph is intended for renal transplant surgeons, transplant specialists, and community nephrologists.

Upon completing this activity, you should be able to:

1. Examine outcomes of using expanded criteria donors to address the growing disparity between supply and demand in renal transplantation.
2. Review the relative safety and efficacy of calcineurin inhibitors (tacrolimus and cyclosporine) and sirolimus therapy in kidney transplants.
3. Assess initial data on the safety and efficacy of extended-release tacrolimus as a once-daily formulation to improve compliance in renal transplant recipients.

Accreditation:

This activity was reviewed for relevance, accuracy of content, balance of presentation, and time required for participation by Mark A. Gendreau, MD, MS; Nicole Weinreb, MD; and Abigail Zavod, MD.

Release Date: November 2007
Expiration Date: November 30, 2008

Millennium CME Institute, Inc., is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Millennium CME Institute, Inc., designates this CME-certified monograph for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Participants should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This activity is approved for 1.0 credit hour (0.1 CEU). TG Medical Education is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. The program number is 454-999-07-034-H01-P and release date is 09/17/2007.

The International Transplant Nurses Society has applied to American Board of Transplant Coordinators (ABTC) for approval of CEPTC credits for transplant coordinators and to the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) for Continuing nursing education credits (CEU's).

This CNE activity has been approved by American Board of Transplant Certification, an accredited approver of continuing nursing education for 1 Category 1 CEPTCs. Program reference number 3000-201.

This activity has been approved by AACN, an accredited approver of continuing nursing education for 1 Contact Hour, CERP category: A Program reference number 00013500-43.

This program has been approved for 1 contact hour by CCMC or the Commission for Case Manager Certification.

© 2007 Millennium CME Institute, Inc. All rights reserved including translation into other languages. No part of this activity may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from Millennium CME Institute, Inc.

Faculty Disclosure:

Millennium CME Institute, Inc., endorses the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Standards for Commercial Support. All faculty are required to disclose any commercial relationships or personal benefit with companies whose products are discussed in educational presentations and with companies who have provided the commercial support for this activity. Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone bias in any presentation, but is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation.

The faculty listed below have declared that they have no relationships to disclose:

Mark A. Gendreau, MD	Nicole Weinreb, MD
Frank A. Gesek, PhD, RPh	Tim I. Robinson
Peter B. Lindgren, PhD	Abigail Zavod, MD

The faculty listed below have declared the following arrangements and/or affiliations:

Off-label Usage Disclosure

This multimedia CME/CE activity contains information on commercial products/devices that are unlabeled for use or investigational uses of products not yet approved.

Faculty and Planning Committee

Expert Commentary
Robert S. Gaston, MD, Professor of Medicine and Surgery, Medical Director, Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama

Medical Reviewer
Mark A. Gendreau, MD, MS, Senior Staff Physician, Lahey Clinic, Burlington, Massachusetts

Planning Committee
Tim I. Robinson, President,
Millennium CME Institute, Inc., Hampton, New Hampshire

Peter B. Lindgren, PhD, Clinical Affairs Specialist,
Millennium CME Institute, Inc., Hampton, New Hampshire

Frank A. Gesek, PhD, RPh, Clinical Affairs Specialist,
Millennium CME Institute, Inc., Hampton, New Hampshire

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in this activity are those of the faculty. It should not be inferred or assumed that they are expressing the views of Astellas Pharma US, Inc., any other manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, or Millennium CME Institute, Inc. The drug selection and dosage information presented in this activity are believed to be accurate. However, participants are urged to consult the full prescribing information on any agent(s) presented in this activity for recommended dosage, indications, contraindications, warnings, precautions, and adverse effects before prescribing any medication. This is particularly important when a drug is new or infrequently prescribed.

Directions:

The learner should read the learning objectives and review the activity in its entirety. After reviewing the material, the learner should complete the Activity Self-assessment Test consisting of a series of multiple-choice questions.

Upon successfully completing this activity as designed and achieving a passing score of 70% or higher on the Activity Self-assessment Test, participants will receive a continuing education credit letter awarding the appropriate credit and the Activity Self-assessment Test answers four to six weeks after the receipt of the registration and evaluation materials.

Estimated time to complete this CME/CE-certified monograph as designed is 1.0 hours.

CME Testing Options