title: Invasive fungal infections following renal transplantation: a review of 2410 recipients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Organ transplant recipients, on long-term graft preserving immunosuppressive therapy, are at increased risk for life threatening opportunistic fungal infections.
  
  
  METHODS
  In order to evaluate the incidence of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) and to identify the most common fungal pathogens, we conducted a retrospective study on 2410 ESRD cases undergone living kidney transplantation in three transplant centers between 1998 and 2008.
  
  
  RESULTS
  IFIs developed in 21 recipients (0.87%), 17 male and 4 female. Their immunosuppression was cyclosporine based. The mean age of patients was 48+/-10 (ranged from 32 to 67) years. Diagnosis was made by radiological findings, positive blood or bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cultures and tissue biopsies. Mucormycosis was the most common cause of IFIs in population studied (n=11), followed by disseminated candidiasis (n=4), aspergillosis (n=3), nocardiasis (n=2) and histoplasmosis (n=1). Pulmonary involvement was dominant (47.6%). The treatment was successful in only 10 patients and the rest died.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our large series of kidney transplant recipients, mucormycosis was found to be the most common cause of invasive fungal infection. Prompt diagnosis and treatment are necessary to avoid the life threatening complications and may greatly improve prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Nephrology and Urology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. behzad.einollahi@gmail.com
authors.forename: Behzad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Einollahi
authors.forename: Mahboob
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lessan-Pezeshki
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pourfarziani
authors.forename: Eghlim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nemati
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nafar
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pour-Reza-Gholi
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hassan Ghadyani
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Samadian
authors.forename: Pedram
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ahmadpoor
authors.forename: Jafar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aslani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D001706:Biopsy; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006660:Histoplasmosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000601:surgery*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000473:pathology; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009091:Mucormycosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D009181:Mycoses / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D009617:Nocardia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D017741:Survivors