Miliary Tuberculosis as Postmortem Diagnosis in Solid Organ Transplant Recipient: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

The diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients presents challenges that may lead to treatment delay. These include atypical clinical presentations, increased likelihood of negative tuberculin skin test or/and interferon-gamma release assays, and negative sputum smear results despite active disease. The treatment poses challenges due to pharmacokinetic interactions, allograft-related toxicity, and inadequate immune response. We report the case of a 70-year-old man after kidney transplantation in 2012. The patient was transferred from the urology unit with deteriorating renal function and presumed urosepsis. His pulmonary chest X-ray showed hilar pulmonary infiltrates. Computed tomography of the chest/abdomen/pelvis revealed mediastinal lymphadenopathy, pulmonary infiltrates, pulmonary effusion, and splenomegaly. His blood results showed pancytopenia and high inflammatory and renal markers. He was treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics covering bacterial, fungal, and viral infections. Despite initial clinical improvement, his kidney function deteriorated, and he required hemodialysis. His temperature continued to spike. On physical examination, he was confused and lethargic. He was scheduled to have a mediastinoscopy with lymph node biopsy, but he died the day before. The postmortem examination revealed miliary tuberculosis with tuberculosis of many organs: kidney transplant, native kidney, bone marrow, mediastinal lymph nodes, lungs, and spleen. The diagnosis of active TB in transplant recipients requires a high index of suspicion and invasive procedures. The majority of all cases of active TB after SOT are disseminated or occur at extrapulmonary sites. Only a small minority of patients have classic cavitary changes on pulmonary imaging.