Gingival Enlargement and Its Risk Factors in Kidney Transplant Patients Receiving Cyclosporine A

Introduction. Gingival enlargement is one of the most cumbersomecomplications of cyclosporine A. It affects patient’s life style byimpairing the appearance and function of masticatory tract. Thisstudy was conducted on a sample of Iranian kidney transplantrecipients to determine the frequency and risk factors of cyclosporineinducedgingival enlargement.Materials and Methods. A total of 200 kidney transplant recipients(mean age, 39.7 ± 13.2 years) were enrolled in this study. All ofthe participants were receiving cyclosporine for at least 12 monthsprior to the study. Factors including age, gender, cyclosporine dose,serum concentration of cyclosporine, duration of immunosuppressiveadministration, plaque, and gingival indexes were evaluated.Results. Seventy kidney transplant recipients (35%) showed variousdegrees of gingival enlargement. Serum cyclosporine concentrationand the intensity of gingival enlargement (McGraw index) hada significant correlation (r = 0.35, P .001). Multiple regressionanalysis revealed an independent association between gingivalenlargement and either serum concentrations of cyclosporineand plaque index (P .05). The other variables failed to show asignificant relationship with gingival enlargement.Conclusions. The prevalence of cyclosporine-induced gingivalenlargement in our patients seems to be almost greater than theprevalence reported in previous studies. There was a significantrelationship between cyclosporine immunosuppressive treatmentand gingival overgrowth in Iranian kidney transplant recipients