The characters of infections after heart transplantation: prevention and management / 中华器官移植杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the incidence and etiology of infection after heart transplantation and discuss the prophylaxis and management. Methods Retrospective study was conducted on the 140 survival heart transplant recipients (HTs) with detail follow-up information. All patients received preventive therapy against bacterial infections postoperatively, of which 87. 8% patients used antiviral drugs to prevent cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. The immuosuppressive regiment was as follows tacrolimus (Tac) or cyclosporine A (CsA), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF),glucocorticoid. Postoperatively all patients had throat swabs, sputum smear Gram stain, sputum culture, blood culture, urine culture and fecal culture for microbiological monitoring. Schedule tables were made to record and analyze the demography of the patients and the timetable of infections. Results The incidence of infections was 42.9 episodes per 100 HTs. Sixty-four cases (76. 2% ) of the infections occurred in the first month after transplantation and all recovered, 20 cases (23.8%) took place after 1 months, and 4 patients died. Conclusion Perioperative infections are mostly caused by bacteria and the prognosis is good. Infections 2 months after operation are commonly caused by virus or fungi with poor prognosis.