Ganciclovir-induced encephalopathy in a bone marrow transplant recipient

Ganciclovir is widely used as prophylactic and pre-emptive therapy, as well as treatment, for CMV infection following BMT. We report a case treated with ganciclovir 5 days a week. Following escalation of the ganciclovir dose to a twice daily dose to treat CMV antigenaemia, he developed encephalopathy. His encephalopathy resolved with withdrawal of ganciclovir. Ganciclovir encephalopathy has been described in other groups of patients but has not been reported following BMT to date. With its widespread use this complication is likely to be seen more often.