Early diagnosis and preemptive therapy of human cytomegalovirus infection in renal transplant recipients

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Objective To evaluate early diagnosis and preemptive therapy of human cytomegalovirus infection in renal transplant recipients. Methods We selected 165 renal transplant recipients who underwent transplantation from January 2007 to January 2009 and adhered to follow-up as research subjects. The samples of blood and urine were collected before transplantation, every 1 week from 2 to 8 weeks and every 2 weeks from 9 to 24 weeks after transplantation. The viral load of blood and urine was detected by fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FQ-PCR). Once HCMV DNA load was more than 103 copies/ml, preemptive therapy was done immediately by ganciclovir. Results All the samples of blood and urine were negative before operation. HCMV DNA load could be detected in the concentrated urine at the second week and the peak of HCMV DNA loadoccurred from the sixth to eighth week after operation. At the same detection time, the number ofpositive recipients in the concentrated urine was more than in blood. In 30 cases HCMV DNA load was detected in the blood and the positive rate was 18.18%. In 64 cases HCMV DNA load was detected in the concentrated urine and the positive rate was 38.79%. The positive rate of the concentrated urine was significantly higher than in blood (P＜0.05). In 30 cases positive for HCMV DNA in the blood and urine, ganciclovir was given and the viral load was decreased gradually. But 8 recipients developed into CMV pneumonia and were cured through the comprehensive treatment. The clearance time of HCMV DNA in the concentrated urine was 10.2 ± 3.4 days. Thirty-four cases that were only positive for HCMV DNA in the urine were also treated by ganciclovir and no case developed into CMV pneumonia. The clearance time of HCMV DNA was 5.5 ± 2.1 days, and the clearance time was shortened as compared with that in those positive for HCMV DNA in the blood and urine (P＜0.05). Conclusion FQ-PCR can detect HCMV DNA in the concentrated urine in advance and increase the positive rate. Once the sample of the concentrated urine is positive, preemptive therapy has a good effect. Key words: Kidney transplantation; Cytomegalovirus; Early diagnosis; Therapy; Polymerase chain reaction