Insidious Course of Cytomegalovirus Infection in Hand Transplant Recipient: Case Report, Diagnostics, and Treatment

Abstract

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is common in solid organ and composite tissue transplant recipients and so becomes an ever more important issue for clinicians of every specialty. In this article we describe a case of CMV infection in a hand transplant recipient, which led to an episode of acute rejection early posttransplantation that was unresponsive to antiviral therapy. Our observations support the guidelines of matching CMV-positive donors with CMV-positive recipients only; however, the possible consequences related to CMV disease make a strong point to advocate the use of CMV prophylaxis in all hand transplant recipients.