In renal transplant recipients with allograft dysfunction, differentiating between a viral infection or acute cellular rejection as the etiology of interstitial nephritis can be difficult – especially as they can commonly occur concurrently. We recently saw a 40-year-old woman who received a…
CMV infection still remains one of the most common and unpredictable complications in transplant recipients, and the negative consequences in terms of graft lost and recipient survival are well known. In this setting, I would like to present…
Nice debate on ASN Transplant Community about the use of IVIG for BK nephropathy. Personally, I have used IVIG in a handful of patients with refractory BK nephropathy in the past. However, I have convinced myself that there…
Parvovirus B19 (PVB19) is a small, non-enveloped, single-stranded DNA virus belonging to the Erythrovirus genus, named for their tropism for erythroid precursor cells. It is the only known parvovirus to infect humans. By late adulthood, most people have…
It’s time for a quick nephro-centric summary of immune globulin use. Immune globulin, usually administered intravenously (IVIg), is made from pooled human plasma and used for a wide variety of human disease. It contains mostly IgG with various…
Prior HBV infection is not a contraindication to kidney transplantation. It is critical to evaluate patients with serologies and HBV DNA viral load prior to transplant. Most patients should also undergo liver transplant biopsy to exclude significant fibrosis/cirrhosis. Patients with…
The BK polyomavirus is a small, non-enveloped DNA virus, which is an ongoing concern for the transplant population as it primarily causes clinical disease in immunocompromised hosts, leading to BK-associated nephropathy (BKN) and graft loss. Primary infection of…
The JC virus is a member of the Polyomavirus family, which includes the BK virus. It infects about 80% of healthy adults and establishes latency in renal tissue. It was first isolated in 1971 from the brain of…
Organ donation from HIV positive patients has been prohibited in the USA since 1988. Pre-transplant screening for HIV is mandatory using nuclear amplification test (NAT), though false negative results during “window period” are a potential concern in donor…
Pre-transplant: All the donors and recipients of kidney transplants (both living and deceased) should be tested for status of CMV by CMV IgG in the blood. If there is history of recent transfusion, pre-transfusion status should be regarded…
