Heart Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Heart Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Caspofungin-resistant Aspergillus flavus after heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support: a case report.

Eschertzhuber S, Velik-Salchner C, Hoermann C, Hoefer D, Lass-Florl C

Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria. stephan.eschertzhuber@uibk.ac.at

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a severe complication in the post-transplant period in recipients of solid organs. Therefore, early diagnosis and specific therapy of fungal infections in these patients are indispensable. We report the case of a 49-year-old patient, who suffered from IA after cardiac transplantation, which was complicated by post-transplant right heart failure requiring mechanical circulatory support using veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and a right ventricular assist device. Despite antifungal treatment, the patient died 3 weeks after transplantation because of multi-organ failure secondary to IA. The isolated Aspergillus strains exhibited in vitro resistance to caspofungin.

Published 20 May 2008 in Transpl Infect Dis, 10(3): 190-2.
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