Cytomegalovirus infection after kidney transplantation using cyclosporin A and low-dose prednisolone immunosuppression

The Prevalence of Neurological Complication after Renal Transplantation

Objective

To evaluate the incidence of neurological complications (NCs) after renal transplantation by meta-analysis.

Methods

A broad literature search in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane-Library was performed from inception to December 31, 2021, to collect published studies on the incidence of NCs after kidney transplantation. The R language meta-package was used to organize and analyze the data.

Results

17 articles including 1,1119 participants were considered eligible. There were 3 studies that recorded unclassified NCs (249 participants), 6 that recorded nervous system CMV infection (1489 participants), 3 that recorded headache (243 participants), and 5 that recorded cerebrovascular events (9138 participants). There was significant heterogeneity (all I ² ≥ 75%) in all analyses, and random-effects models were selected. Meta-analysis results showed that the incidence of unclassified NCs was 0.29 (95% CI (0.16-0.48)), the incidence of nervous system CMV infection was 0.38 (95% CI (0.26-0.52)), the incidence of headache was 0.55 (95% CI (0.44-0.66)), and the incidence of stroke was 0.05 (95% CI (0.02-0.09)). Egger's test showed that there was no conspicuous publication bias in the included literature in each group.

Conclusions

Headache had the highest incidence (55%) in the nervous system after KT, followed by nervous system CMV infection (38%) and stroke (5%). Nevertheless, due to the inconsistencies in the types of NCs included and the follow-up time, our results might only serve as an epidemiological reference for the specific incidence differences.

A longitudinal prospective study of cytomegalovirus pp65 antigenemia in renal transplant recipients

Cytomegalovirus (CMV)-encoded pp65 antigen in peripheral blood leukocytes (CMV antigenemia) was investigated in 1017 serial samples from 64 patients for 16 weeks after renal transplantation in a prospective study. In 110 samples from 24 patients, at least one antigen-positive leukocyte was identified. The median number of stained cells was 4 (range 1-1000) per 4 x 10(5) leukocytes. Twenty-one of 24 patients with serological signs of an active CMV infection were antigen-positive (sensitivity 87.5%), whereas 3 patients with antigenemia did not show serological signs of infection during the observation period (specificity 92.5%). Positive results were obtained 19 days (median) before serological response and 9 days (median) before the onset of CMV syndrome. The sensitivity in defining a CMV syndrome was 100% (n = 8). In all patients who presented with CMV syndrome, antigenemia was present prior to the onset of symptoms or on the same day. In contrast, serological monitoring rendered the diagnosis of CMV infection possible at the onset of clinical symptoms in only two of eight patients. We conclude that (1) insufficient results obtained with the CMV antigenemia assay by other investigators are mainly due to technical problems that can easily be overcome by the protocol presented and (2) the detection of CMV pp65 antigen in peripheral blood leukocytes is an excellent tool for rapid and early diagnosis of CMV infection.