The Relationship Between Bacterial Pathogen Presence Detected by Bronchial Lavage and Acute Rejection: 1-Year Follow-up Results Following Lung Transplantation

Aim: Lung transplant recipients are the highest risk group in terms of infective complications among solid organ transplants. It has improved the management of the most common infectious complications with the aid of advances in diagnostic methods, prophylaxis, and therapeutic strategies. In the present study, we evaluated the results of microbiological culture samples by the bronchoscopic method. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients who were admitted between November 2016 and May 2019 in a Lung Transplantation Department. We evaluated the results of bacteria detected in the lavage fluid obtained by serial bronchoscopy in the first year after lung transplantation in lung transplant patients. We divided the patients into two groups: those with acute rejection and those without. The two groups were compared according to their culture of growth and analyzed. Results: Of the 77 patients included in the study, 77.2% were male. In the first year after transplantation, 79 bronchoscopic lavage cultures were positive in the follow-up. While bacterial culture positivity by post-transplant bronchial lavage was found to be 62% in the first 3 months, it decreased to 43.6% between the third month and the first year. There was no significant difference between the groups with and without acute rejection of lavage culture growth. Conclusion: This study revealed the importance of the bronchoscopic method in terms of the detection of microbiological findings and the prempitic antibiotic therapy approach in the evaluation of lung infections in lung transplant patients.