Mucormycosis after kidney transplantations: Report of seven cases

Abstract

This is a report of 7 cases of mucormycosis infections in patients who had undergone transplantation and been admitted in the kidney transplant centre of Baqiyatallah Hospital in Tehran, Iran, from 2002 to 2005. We retrospectively reviewed the hospital records for demographic data, symptoms, diagnostic techniques and outcomes. Five patients were male and 2 female. The mean age of patients was 49.5 y. The time interval between transplantation and disease onset varied greatly (range: 1 month to 4 y). Patients’ symptoms were fever (7 cases), respiratory distress (4 cases) and severe headache (3 cases). Suspected patients were evaluated by CT scan, BAL and biopsy and diagnosis confirmed by culture. The final diagnosis was pulmonary mucormycosis in 4 cases, rhino-cerebral mucormycosis in 2 cases and disseminated mucormycosis in 1 case. Despite early and intensive treatment with amphotericin B in all patients and extensive debridement in 3 cases, only 2 patients survived the disease. Mucormycosis is a potentially lethal complication after kidney transplantation. It could occur very early on or very late into the post-transplant period. Despite the results of other studies, the most frequent site of infection in our patients was the lungs.