Aspergillus pneumonia in renal transplant recipients at a medical center in Turkey

Pulmonary aspergillosis is a devastating disease. Early diagnosis allowing early treatment may improve the prognosis. However, this goal remains difficult to achieve. When the diagnosis is confirmed, it is often already too late. Despite antifungal treatment, the mortality rate is high. Patients wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transplantation proceedings 2004-11, Vol.36 (9), p.2703-2707
Main Authors: Usta, M., Kahvecioglu, S., Akdag, I., Gullulu, M., Ozdemir, B., Ener, B., Ersoy, A., Cirak, Y., Dilek, K., Yavuz, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aspergillosis - diagnosis
Aspergillosis - diagnostic imaging
Aspergillus fumigatus - isolation & purification
Biological and medical sciences
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fundamental immunology
Human mycoses
Humans
Infectious diseases
Kidney Transplantation - adverse effects
Male
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous mycoses
Mycoses
Pneumonia - diagnostic imaging
Pneumonia - microbiology
Postoperative Complications - microbiology
Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases
Tissue, organ and graft immunology
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Turkey
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Summary:Pulmonary aspergillosis is a devastating disease. Early diagnosis allowing early treatment may improve the prognosis. However, this goal remains difficult to achieve. When the diagnosis is confirmed, it is often already too late. Despite antifungal treatment, the mortality rate is high. Patients with immunosuppression show a high mortality rate. We present five patients of ages ranging between 34 and 43 years who displayed aspergillus pneumonia between 1991 and 2000. All patients received cyclosporine, azathioprine, and prednisone for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy. Their ages ranged from 34 to 43 years with the onset of infection between 1 to 25 months posttransplant. In all cases, the infection was localized to the lungs. Standard methods of fungal culture and identification were used. No coinfections with tuberculosis or other fungi or bacteria were identified. Three cases were successfully treated but two patients showed deterioration despite appropriate therapy and died. Among patients with solid organ transplantation, lung, liver, and renal transplant patients are at the highest risk of developing aspergillus lung infections. A high degree of awareness and efforts for early diagnosis and therapy may improve the poor prognosis.
ISSN:0041-1345
1873-2623
DOI:10.1016/j.transproceed.2004.09.056