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Treatment of cytomegalovirus infection or disease in solid organ transplant recipients with valganciclovir.
Journal article

Treatment of cytomegalovirus infection or disease in solid organ transplant recipients with valganciclovir.

  • Fellay J Centre de Transplantation, Service de Pneumologie, Service de cardiologie, Institut de Microbiologie et Service des Maladies Infectieuses, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland. j.fellay@hospvd.ch
  • Venetz JP
  • Aubert JD
  • Seydoux C
  • Pascual M
  • Meylan PR
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  • 2005-04-26
Published in:
  • Transplantation proceedings. - 2005
Antiviral Agents
Cytomegalovirus Infections
Ganciclovir
Heart Transplantation
Humans
Immunosuppressive Agents
Kidney Transplantation
Lung Transplantation
Organ Transplantation
Valganciclovir
English Valganciclovir (VGC) has proved efficacious and safe for the prophylaxis against cytomegalovirus (CMV) in high-risk transplant recipients and for the treatment of CMV retinitis in AIDS patients. We used VGC for the treatment of CMV infection (viremia without symptoms) or disease (CMV syndrome or tissue-invasive disease) in kidney, heart, and lung transplant recipients. Fourteen transplant recipients were treated: five for asymptomatic CMV infection and nine for CMV disease. VGC was administered in doses adjusted to renal function for 4 to 12 weeks (induction and maintenance therapy). Clinically, all nine patients with CMV disease responded to treatment. Microbiologically, treatment with VGC turned blood culture negative for CMV within 2 weeks in all patients and was associated with a > or =2 log decrease in blood CMV DNA within 3 weeks in 8 of 8 tested patients. With a follow-up of 6 months (n = 12 patients), asymptomatic recurrent CMV viremia was noted in five cases, and CMV syndrome noted in one case (all cases in the first 2 months after the end of treatment). VGC was clinically well tolerated in all patients; however, laboratory abnormalities occurred in three cases (mild increase in transaminases, thrombocytopenia, and pancytopenia). This preliminary experience strongly suggests that therapy with VGC is effective against CMV in organ transplant recipients; however, the exact duration of therapy remains to be determined: a longer course may be necessary to prevent early recurrence.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/289465
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