Prevalence of invasive cytomegalovirus disease with administration of muromonab CD-3 in patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease with the administration of muromonab CD-3 (OKT-3) in patients undergoing liver transplant; specifically, to assess the risk of OKT-3 use as an agent for rejection prophylaxis and as an agent for therapy of rejection. DESIGN: Retrospective review of medical records. STUDY POPULATION: 83 liver transplant recipients (43 men, 40 women) with a mean age of 41.5 years (range 16-62). DATA EXTRACTION: The medical record for each liver transplant recipient was reviewed and analyzed for the following variables: (1) preoperative recipient CMV serology, (2) donor CMV serology, (3) incidence of invasive CMV disease, (4) administration of OKT-3, (5) postoperative administration time of OKT-3, and (6) the relationship between the administration of OKT-3 and the prevalence of invasive CMV disease. RESULTS: OKT-3 was administered to 34 of 83 (40.9 percent) liver remainder received OKT-3 as rejection rescue. All patients received OKT-3 5 mg iv for 14 days. Seventeen of the 34 patients receiving OKT-3 (50 percent) developed invasive CMV disease; 58.8 percent of the patients (20/34) receiving OKT-3 were given the agent within the first 14 postoperative days. Sixteen of these 20 patients (80 percent) developed invasive CMV disease. One of 14 patients (7.1 percent) who received OKT-3 after the first 14 postoperative days developed invasive CMV disease. Of those patients 94 percent (16/17) received OKT-3 in the first 14 postoperative days. This prevalence differed significantly from those receiving OKT-3 after the 14th postoperative day and those who did not receive OKT-3 at any time during their hospital course. CONCLUSIONS: The patients who received early administration of OKT-3 in our study had a greater risk of invasive CMV disease than did those who received OKT-3 later in the hospital course.