Successful Treatment of Herpes Esophagitis With Ganciclovir in a Liver Transplant Patient

Abstract

The presence of Herpes Simplex Virus-1 (HSV-1) esophagitis in patients with liver transplantation has been reported rarely. Among the reports that are accessible in the literature, none could have shown tissue positivity for Herpes virus-1 DNA via Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in patients with liver transplantation. This case is presented as the patient was diagnosed with herpes esophagitis based on the histopathological findings and HSV-1 DNA positivity (detected by PCR) in the biopsy material and was treated with Ganciclovir. Due to the specific action of Ganciclovir against CMV infections, it is natural that the drug cannot use in the treatment of HSV infections. However it is reported that ganciclovir has been reduced the incidence of symptomatic HSV infections after liver transplantation. We report on a patient after liver transplantation with HSV-1 esophagitis, who was successfully treated with Ganciclovir. We assume that most transplant centers according to their protocols use ganciclovir for CMV prophylaxis, which may contribute to avoid HSV infection.