Submitted October 14, 2008
Accepted January 27, 2009
How we treat CMV in hematopoietic cell transplant recipients
Michael Boeckh* and Per Ljungman
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute and Program in Infectious Diseases, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, United States
Department of Hematology, Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
* Corresponding author; email: mboeckh{at}fhcrc.org.
Cytomegalovirus continues to cause major complications after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Over the past decade, most centers have adopted preemptive antiviral treatment or prophylaxis strategies to prevent CMV disease. Both strategies are effective but also have shortcomings with presently available drugs. Here we review aspects of CMV treatment and prevention in HCT recipients, including: currently used drugs and diagnostics, ways to optimize preemptive therapy strategies with quantitative PCR assays, the use of prophylaxis, management of CMV disease caused by wild-type or drug-resistant strains, and future strategies.
