Cytomegalovirus disease in post-heart-transplant patients at a national reference center

Introduction: Heart transplantation remains as the treatment of choice when the heart failure is refractory to the medical or surgical therapy. Therefore, cytomegalovirus disease is an important post-heart-transplant infectious complication. Aims: To describe the prevalence and clinical characteristics of the cytomegalovirus disease after heart transplant surgery. Materials and Methods: A retrospective, descriptive study was conducted. It enrolled 35 heart-transplant patients attended in the Cardiovascular National Institute (INCOR), between 2010 and 2015. The information was obtained through the review of medical records. The demographic and relevant clinical variables were analyzed for the cytomegalovirus disease cases. Results: The population mean age was 39.49 ± 15.07 years and most of them were male patients (63%). The prevalence of the cytomegalovirus disease was 5.7% (two patients), both were seronegative for cytomegalovirus before transplantation. One of the patients had the disease before finishing the valganciclovir prophylaxis and the other after the end of it. Conclusion: The prevalence of the cytomegalovirus disease is slightly lower than in other studies. Moreover, the cytomegalovirus disease can remit with a prompt diagnosis and the proper medical treatment.