[Gastrointestinal cytomegalovirus infection in patients with heart transplants]

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a major cause of morbidity in organ transplant recipients. Gastrointestinal CMV disease is a serious and potentially lethal complication requiring treatment with antiviral agents. The symptoms and endoscopic findings are nonspecific. The diagnosis may be decided by histological examination, since CMV inclusions can be verified immunohistochemically in routine sections. In a series of 132 heart transplant recipients, 26 developed CMV-infection. Three of these patients had serious gastrointestinal disease. This report describes the patients with gastrointestinal CMV infection, and briefly discusses symptomatology, diagnostic considerations and suggested treatment.