Every-Other-Day Valganciclovir Prophylaxis for Cytomegalovirus Prevention in Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Single-Center Experience

Abstract

Background: Moderate-risk for Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection includes patients with donor positive/recipient positive (D+/R+) or donor negative/ recipient positive antibody status (D-/R+). Guidelines recommend high-dose daily Valganciclovir (VGCV) as prophylaxis, which may be due to the paucity of data on the efficacy of every-other-day VGCV. Methods: Our experience of using every-other-day VGCV as a prophylactic strategy in moderate risk Kidney Transplant Recipients (KTR) has been described. We retrospectively reviewed 86 moderate-risk KTR in our institution between 2018 and 2020. CMV infection at 6 months post-transplant was the primary endpoint. Graft survival, biopsy-proven rejection, opportunistic infections, Haematological adverse events, and mortality were also evaluated. Results: CMV infection occurrence at 6 months was zero in our cohort. Incidence of leukopenia was 13%, BPAR-31%, OI-33%, and mortality being 3.5%. Conclusion: Every-Other-Day VGCV dosing can be an effective alternative in moderate risk KTR for CMV prevention.