Fatal interstitial pneumonitis associated with sirolimus therapy in a heart transplant recipient.

Interstitial pneumonitis is a temporary side effect of sirolimus therapy and has been described mainly in renal transplant recipients. It is considered to be dose dependent and has been documented in patients receiving at least 5 mg daily, or in patients with blood concentration plateaus > 15 ng/ml. In general, clinical and radiologic features improve after discontinuation and, to the best of our knowledge, no reports of fatalities have been published.