Cytomegalovirus colitis presenting as massive lower gastrointestinal bleeding in an immunocompetent patient

Cytomegalovirus related fatal duodenal diverticular bleeding: Case report and literature review

Involvement of gastrointestinal tract by cytomegalovirus (CMV) is common. CMV infections mainly run their course without any clinical signs in immunocompetent hosts. In contrast, CMV can cause severe infections with serious consequences in a immunocompromised state typically associated with organ transplants, highly immunosuppressive cancer chemotherapy, advanced HIV infection or treatment with corticosteroids. The incidence and severity of these manifestations of CMV is directly proportional with the degree of cellular immune dysfunction, i.e., CD8+ Cytotoxic T-cell response. Clinical manifestations of CMV can become apparent in different situations including reactivation of CMV from latency, primary infection in a seronegative host, or exposure of a seropositive host to a new strain of CMV. As the clinical signs of CMV in immunodeficient patients are usually sparse, physicians should be highly vigilant about CMV infection, a treatable condition that otherwise is associated with significant mortality. Here we report a rare case of severe gastrointestinal CMV infection with sustained immunodeficiency secondary to treatment with steroids manifesting as fatal duodenal diverticular bleeding.

Coexisting cytomegalovirus infection in immunocompetent patients with Clostridium difficile colitis

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) colitis usually occurs in immunocompromised patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection, organ transplantation, and malignancy receiving chemotherapy or ulcerative colitis receiving immunosuppressive agents. However, CMV colitis is increasingly recognized in immunocompetent hosts. Notably, CMV colitis coexisting with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in apparently healthy individuals has been published in recent years, which could result in high morbidity and mortality. CMV colitis is a rare but possible differential diagnosis in immunocompetent patients with abdominal pain, watery, or especially bloody diarrhea, which could be refractory to standard treatment for CDI. As a characteristic of CDI, however, pseudomembranous colitis may be only caused by CMV infection. Real-time CMV-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for blood and stool samples may be a useful and noninvasive diagnostic strategy to identify CMV infection when treatment of CDI eventually fails to show significant benefits. Quantitative CMV-PCR in mucosal biopsies may increase the diagnostic yield of traditional histopathology. CMV colitis is potentially life-threatening if severe complications occur, such as sepsis secondary to colitis, massive colorectal bleeding, toxic megacolon, and colonic perforation, so that may necessitate pre-emptive antiviral treatment for those who are positive for CMV-PCR in blood and/or stool samples while pending histological diagnosis.

Case of cytomegalovirus colitis in an immunocompetent patient: a rare cause of abdominal pain and diarrhea in the elderly

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) colitis usually occurs in immunocompromised patients after undergoing organ transplantation or chemotherapy. We report the case of a 60-year-old immunocompetent Japanese woman who presented with abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea. She was initially diagnosed as having ischemic colitis with pseudomembranous colitis on the basis of her symptoms, Clostridium difficile antigen positivity, and colonoscopic findings, which showed ulcer formation from the sigmoid colon to rectum. In spite of bowel rest and administration of metronidazole, her symptoms did not improve. On follow-up colonoscopy, ulcerations remained unchanged. Biopsy of the ulceration revealed CMV-infected cells leading to a diagnosis of CMV colitis. CMV colitis is a rare but possible differential diagnosis in immunocompetent patients. We recommend endoscopic biopsy in a case of refractory abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea.

Massive Alimentary Tract Bleeding due to Cytomegalovirus Infection in an Elderly Patient

In recent years, cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been recognized as an important common pathogen in immunocompromized patients. This is due to the increasing number of immunosuppressive medications, intensive cancer chemotherapy use, recurrent transplantations, progressively aging population, and the higher number of human immunodeficiency virus infections. Cytomegalovirus infection especially interests the gastrointestinal tract, anywhere, from the mouth to the anus. Namely, the most commonly affected area is the colon, followed by duodenum, stomach, esophagus and small intestine. The most frequent manifestations of CMV colitis are: diarrhea, fever, gastrointestinal bleeding and abdominal pain. We report here the case of an 82-year-old woman, who was treated for non-Hodgkin lymphoma; she was admitted to the emergency department for abdominal pain and diffuse arthralgia, following massive upper- and lower- gastrointestinal bleeding, due to duodenal and colonic ulcers related to CMV infection.

Cytomegalovirus colitis in intensive care unit patients: difficulties in clinical diagnosis

PURPOSE

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection occurs increasingly in critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs). We reported CMV colitis which has rarely been recognized in the ICU patients.

METHODS

CMV DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for blood and/or stool samples. Definite diagnosis of CMV colitis required histopathology or CMV immunohistochemical staining of colorectal biopsies. We reviewed ICU patients characterized by positive blood or stool CMV-PCR with colorectal bleeding or water diarrhea.

RESULTS

We identified 18 patients (biopsy-proved, n=8; probable cases, n=10). The most common comorbidities were chronic renal disease, diabetes mellitus, and coronary artery disease. Stool CMV-PCR was positive in 7 of 10 patients (2 of 3 biopsy-proved and 5 of 7 probable cases). Colonoscopy was performed for 15 patients, revealing ulcerative or polypoid lesions. The endoscopists obtained colonic biopsies from 9 patients. Yet, the pathologists reported CMV colitis for 4 patients. Additional 4 patients were confirmed using immunohistochemical stain by the request of clinical physicians. Pseudomembranous colitis was found in 4 patients.

CONCLUSION

Diagnosis of CMV colitis seems difficult in clinical practice and need persistent communication between clinicians. The positive stool CMV-PCR result was a useful hint for adding immunohistochemical stain in mucosal biopsies to make a definite diagnosis of CMV colitis.