Prophylactic acyclovir and preemptive ganciclovir to prevent cytomegalovirus disease in children after hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acyclovir prophylaxis and preemptive ganciclovir treatment in preventing cytomegalovirus disease in children who underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed the clinical records of 66 children (36 boys, 30 girls; mean age, 9 ± 5 y; age range, 2-20 y) who underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplant at Ankara Children's Hematology and Oncology Hospital, Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit, between April 2010 and March 2012.

Results: In these 66 children, 61 children (92.4%) received allogeneic transplant; 50 children (76.9%) received a myeloablative regimen; and 14 children (21.2%) received anti-thymocyte globulin as part of the conditioning regimen. All children received acyclovir prophylaxis from the beginning of conditioning regimen until 100 days after transplant, and children received preemptive treatment with ganciclovir when cytomegalovirus DNAemia ≥ 400 copies/mL on 2 tests or ≥ 1000 copies/mL on 1 test. There were 19 children (28.8%) who had cytomegalovirus reactivation during median follow-up 381 days (range, 100-720 d). Cytomegalovirus disease was observed in only 2 patients (10.5%); 1 patient had cytomegalovirus hepatitis and 1 patient had cytomegalovirus gastrointestinal disease. Both patients were cured of cytomegalovirus with treatment for 1 month. There was no death attributable to cytomegalovirus reactivation and/or disease. Febrile neutropenia, acute graft-versus-host disease, and steroid use were more frequent in patients who had cytomegalovirus than did not have cytomegalovirus reactivation. The risk of cytomegalovirus reactivation was increased 5-fold in patients who used steroids.

Conclusions: Acyclovir prophylaxis and preemptive treatment with ganciclovir may be effective in preventing cytomegalovirus disease in most children who have hematopoietic stem cell transplant.