Original clinical scienceNon-tuberculous mycobacterium infection after lung transplantation is associated with increased mortality
Section snippets
Recipient cohort
This study cohort consisted of all primary adult lung transplant recipients transplanted at UCLA between January 1, 2000 and August 30, 2006. Of the 207 consecutive lung transplant operations performed, 201 recipients met the inclusion criteria and their follow-up data were collected through December 2009. Five retransplant recipients were excluded from the final cohort. One additional patient with intra-operative death was also excluded. The study was approved by the institutional review board
Study cohort characteristics
The final study cohort included 201 primary lung transplant recipients (65 single, 133 bilateral, 3 heart–lung). The NTM infection group (n = 36) included all patients diagnosed with NTM colonization (n = 27) or NTM disease (n = 9) at any point after lung transplantation. The non-NTM group (n = 165) consisted of all the remaining patients, including patients with a BAL culture positive for M gordonae (n = 4), which was considered to be a contaminant in accordance with ATS/IDSA guidelines.29
Discussion
Infections and BOS are the two most important factors limiting long-term survival post-transplant. Data regarding NTM infection complicating lung transplantation are sparse and limited to only one series comprising 23 cases,23 a few reviews19, 21, 22 and isolated case reports.18, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 The role of NTM in mortality has not been appreciated. We hypothesized that NTM infection after lung transplantation may be an independent risk factor for increased mortality after lung
Disclosure statement
The first two authors (H.C.H. and S.S.W.) contributed equally to this study. This study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (HL 080206 to J.A.B. and HL 094746 to S.S.W.).
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
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