Authors

1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 School of Health, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran

4 Department of Hematology‑Oncology, Hematology‑Oncology and SCT Research Center, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Objective: Opportunistic infections like cytomegalovirus (CMV) are among the 
primary causes of morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing hematipoetic stem 
cell transplantation (HSCT). This infection is frequently seen in early postengraftment 
period. So we determined to find the risk factors associated with CMV reactivation.
Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the medical records of 126 consecutive patients 
who underwent allogenic‑HSCT from peripheral blood stem cells from August 2011 to 
February 2013 in Shariati Hospital. We included HSCT patients with 15 years of age 
or older, who survived at least 100 days after transplantation. CMV reactivation was 
detected based on the weekly PP65 assessment. Patients with 10 or more positive cells 
per 50,000 cells were defined as having high‑level antigenemia.
Findings: From 126 patients which included in this study, 76 were male (60%). CMV 
antigenemia was documented in 43 patients (34%). The median time to CMV infection 
was 40 days (range: 3–77) after transplantation. The incidence of high‑level antigenemia 
during the first 100 days following HSCT was 11%.
Conclusion: We found that the significant risk factor for CMV antigenemia in multivariate 
analysis was prior graft‑versus‑host disease (GVHD) experience and higher donor age. For 
high‑level antigenemia, GVHD or duration of its treatment was significant determinant.

Keywords

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