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Introduction: A high prevalence of HCV infection among hemodialysis patients has been reported worldwide. Risk factors such as history of blood transfusion, duration of hemodialysis and recently nosocomial transmission of HCV in hemodialysis units have been identified. In this study the prevalence of Hepatitis C virus antibody and risk factors in hemodialysis patients in Markazi province is investigated. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional analythical study, blood samples were obtained from all 204 hemodialysis patients. Samples were tested for anti-HCV antibodies by using third generation enzyme immunoassay. The reactive samples on ELISA were confirmed by the third generation RIBA. Risk factors were evaluated by a questionnaire. Data was analysed using Chi square and logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of anti-HCV antibody among hemodialysis patients was 4.9%.Duration of hemodialysis was identified as a major risk factor in transmission of HCV (p=0.004). There was a significant relationship between anti-HCV positivity and previous renal transplantation (p=0.032). Female sex was another risk factor for HCV infection (p=0.030). There was no significant relationship between anti-HCV positivity and history of blood transfusion. Conclusion: Nosocomial transmission of HCV within hemodialysis units seems to be a route of infection in patients on hemodialysis in Markazi province. Application of dialysis precautions recommended by CDC can reduce the prevalence of HCV infection among hemodialysis patients in this province.

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Background: Prevalence and incidence of end stage renal diseases requiring renal replacement therapies such as dialysis and kidney transplantation is on the rise. However, no qualitative research studies have been done to explore the experiences of people living with dialysis and kidney transplant in depth. Therefore, this qualitative study was done to explore the experiences of patients living with dialysis and those with kidney transplant. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study was carried out through content analysis approach. Sampling was done from the beginning and continued until data saturation. Semi-structured interviews were tools of data collection. A total of 18 participants were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed through Graham and Landman content analysis method. Results: After analyzing the data, two main themes including, dialysis, a grueling event, and renal transplantation, a normal life with healthy kidney transplant, were reported. Conclusion: Compared with hemodialysis, receiving a kidney through transplantation provides a significantly more pleasant quality of life for patients. However, there are certain obstacles in transplantation and graft survival in the views of transplantation patients. Hence, it is suggested that health officials design programs to provide support and instruction to facilitate the process of kidney transplantation for eligible patients even before entering the dialysis stage.

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Introduction: Years after the first successful kidney transplant, there are still many questions about the best immunosuppression regimen for these patients. Various studies have shown that long-term use of calcineurin inhibitor drugs can be associated with chronic nephrotoxicity and lead to irreversible damage to the transplanted organ. Therefore, the goal is to use immunosuppressive drugs and reduce the dose of calcineurin inhibitors as much as possible without increasing the risk of transplant rejection. This study aims to compare renal function, the rate of viral infections, and the occurrence of rejection after kidney transplantation in patients on two different treatment regimens including everolimus plus a low dose of calcineurin inhibitor against the standard protocol of calcineurin inhibitor along with mycophenolic acid in 60 kidney transplanted patients.
Methods: This clinical trial was conducted at Labbafinejad Hospital in Tehran between 2018-2019 on 60 kidney transplant patients aged 18 to 65 years and for 12 months.
Results: In terms of kidney function status based on GFR, except for the first month (P=0.02), there was no significant difference between the two groups in any of the time periods (P>0.05). Also, there was no statistically significant difference between the two study groups in terms of hospitalization length after transplantation and re-hospitalization during the study (P>0.05). 
Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the everolimus regimen and low dose of calcineurin inhibitor can be used de novo in transplant patients without increasing the risk of rejection in them and at the same time it may be able to reduce the incidence of viral infections after transplantation.