Purpose: Infection with Nocardia species is an uncommon yet important cause of morbidity and mortality in renal transplant recipients.
Methods: We experienced 6 cases of nocardiosis among 239 renal transplant recipients maintained on tacrolimus- or cyclosporine-based immunosuppression from May 1999 to February 2001.
Results: All the six patients had pulmonary nocardiosis from 36 to 220 (mean 82) days after renal transplantation. Due to a multiplicity of infection sites, cerebral abscess was detected in 2 patients, soft tissue abscess in 2, allograft abscess in 1 and subretinal abscess in 1. Comparing the routine trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) prophylaxis after transplantation, 5 out of 6 patients took TMP/SMX for a mean of 1.8 months due to an increased AST/ALT. All the cases required invasive diagnostic procedures such as percutaneous needle aspiration (PC NA) or stereotactic aspiration. In the antimicrobial susceptibility test, isolates were sensitive to TMP/SMX, amikacin and imipenem. In the early stage of infection, we used triple chemotherapy (TMP/SMX, amikacin, imipenem) for cerebral nocardiosis and dual therapy (TMP/SMX, amikacin) for localized pulmonary infection. There were no mortality and all the graft maintained stable function.
Conclusion: After organ transplantation, pneumonia accompanied with satellite soft tissue infection should be considered as a nocardiosis. Pro- phylactic use of TMP/SMX is crucial for effective prevention of nocardiosis.
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