[Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in solid organ transplant recipients]

To discuss diagnosis, risk factors, clinical and radiologic manifestations of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) that is accepted as an important mortality factor in organ transplant recipients. We retrospectively evaluated seven IPA cases who were diagnosed among 207 patients that had undergone organ transplantation surgery in our center between 1998-2001. Of seven patients, four was renal and three was liver recipients. Diagnosis was made histopathologically (three post-mortem, one transbronchial lung biopsy) in four patients while culture positivity (sputum and tracheal aspiration material) with clinical and radiological evaluation was the diagnostic criteria for three patients. The most common respiratory symptoms were fever, productive cough and dyspnea. The most common fiberoptic bronchoscopic findings were mucosal fragility, hemorrhage. In one patient plaque formation was found. One liver recipients had been on hemodialysis because of renal insufficiency (serum creatine was 2.6 mg/dL). All liver and kidney recipients had allograft failure. One liver and two kidney recipients had neutropenia, two liver and one kidney recipients had thrombocytopenia. Six patients had received amphotericin-B and/or itraconazole therapy. Four of the five exitus were receiving antifungal treatment. Three of them were lost in a short time while only one non-survivor had received itraconazole for three weeks. The most frequent CT findings were patchy infiltrations and nodule formation with or without cavitation. Five patients were lost in two months (mortality, 71.4 %), two survivors are under follow up. These findings showed, IPA should be thought in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary infections after organ transplantation.