Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis after solid organ transplantation: diagnosis and treatment based on 28 years of transplantation experience

Transplant Proc. 2009 Jan-Feb;41(1):375-8. doi: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2008.11.006.

Abstract

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a serious and lethal complication among organ transplant recipients. This report described the clinical manifestations and treatment of IPA over a 28-year period. From January 1979 to December 2007, 3215 organ transplant patients (2954 kidney and 261 liver recipients) were enrolled in the study. Nine patients developed IPA (7 kidney and 2 liver recipients), yielding an incidence of 0.003% (9/3215). Five IPA patients (55.6%) were diagnosed by transbronchial lung biopsy or autopsy, and 3 (33.3%) by sputum culture study. One patient was diagnosed through clinical manifestations and observations of IPA characteristics on chest X ray. We used amphotericin B (n = 4; 44.4%), voriconazole (n = 2; 22.2%), or fluconazole (n = 1; 11.1%) as the primary antifungal agents, but 2 patients could not receive antifungal agents due to rapid disease progression and sequential mortality. This study showed a high mortality rate among IPA patients (55.6%; 5/9). Only patients who received early antifungal agent thereby after a prompt diagnosis recovered from IPA. This survival advantage warrants careful monitoring for invasive fungal infections after organ transplantation with immediate administration of antifungal agents or surgical intervention.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antifungal Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Disease Progression
  • Drug Therapy, Combination
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunosuppressive Agents / therapeutic use
  • Kidney Transplantation / adverse effects*
  • Liver Transplantation / adverse effects*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Postoperative Complications / immunology
  • Postoperative Complications / microbiology*
  • Postoperative Complications / mortality
  • Pulmonary Aspergillosis / diagnosis*
  • Pulmonary Aspergillosis / diagnostic imaging
  • Pulmonary Aspergillosis / epidemiology*
  • Pulmonary Aspergillosis / mortality
  • Radiography, Thoracic
  • Reoperation / statistics & numerical data
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Survival Analysis
  • Survivors

Substances

  • Antifungal Agents
  • Immunosuppressive Agents