Pathological spectrum of cytomegalovirus infection of renal allograft recipients-an autopsy study from north India.

ABSTRACT

This is a retrospective study of autopsy material to highlight the histo-morphological changes in cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection amongst renal allograft recipients. Nineteen out of 80 patients (23.75%) autopsied during a seventeen-year period (1985-2001) had CMV infection. Pulmonary infection was present in 14 out of 19 cases of which four had isolated lung involvement. Likewise, there were two cases each of isolated oesophageal and renal involvement; one case with isolated colonic involvement. The other 10 cases had multi-organ involvement and the organs involved were kidneys (4), esophagus (6), stomach (1), colon (5), adrenals (3), pancreas (3), liver (1) and spleen (1). Pulmonary infection with CMV was associated with acute pneumonitis in 3 cases and lymphocytic interstitial pneumonitis in 9 instances. Four out of 6 cases had acute tubulo-interstitial nephritis induced by CMV and only two cases had no significant inflammatory response. Glomerular involvement in the form of CMV inclusions in the glomeruli was present in only one case. Gastrointestinal CMV infection (15) presented as acute necrotizing ulceration because of predominant endothelial involvement. Post transplant survival period varied from one month to three years, with majority (14) of the patients having survived for less than one year.