Solid organ transplant-specific antibiogram in a tertiary pediatric hospital in Canada

Update on Epidemiology and Outcomes of Infection in Pediatric Organ Transplant Recipients

Pediatric solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients are at risk for infection following transplantation. Data from adult SOT recipients are often used to guide prevention and treatment of infections associated with organ transplantation in children. This article highlights key recent pediatric SOT-specific publications for an array of infectious complications of organ transplantation. Attention is given to areas of need for future study.

A work in progress: antimicrobial stewardship in solid organ transplant patient populations

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To review recent medical literature addressing antimicrobial stewardship in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients.

RECENT FINDINGS

Few studies with a strict focus on SOT patients have been published to date. Team-based antimicrobial stewardship interventions in SOT populations do have beneficial impacts on antimicrobial stewardship-relevant outcomes. Several studies have compared SOT-specific antibiograms to widely accepted hospital antibiograms; these studies all have found important differences in resistance rates among bacterial pathogens. Novel biomarkers like virome monitoring for assessing the net state of immunosuppression hold promise for individualized antimicrobial stewardship interventions.

SUMMARY

SOT patients are an understudied population with respect to antimicrobial stewardship interventions. Current antimicrobial stewardship interventions for SOT patients are largely extrapolated from studies in general patient populations and may not accurately reflect SOT-specific infection risks or outcomes. Antimicrobial stewardship interventions do impact SOT-relevant care goals but require significantly more research to achieve the depth and reach of antimicrobial stewardship interventions developed for general populations.