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Past is Prologue

Journal of Hospital Medicine 14(8). 2019 August;:501-505 | 10.12788/jhm.3224

© 2019 Society of Hospital Medicine

TEACHING POINTS

  • Fever in solid organ transplant recipients should prompt consideration of a broad differential diagnosis, including infection, malignancy, organ graft rejection, autoimmune disease, and medication toxicity.
  • PTLD is a rare but serious complication of organ transplantation. Most cases are driven by EBV infection and transformation of infected lymphocytes in a variety of organs in the context of reduced T-cell surveillance. The clinical presentation can be heterogeneous and varies depending on the organs and tissues involved.
  • More than one infection, or both infection and malignancy, can coexist in organ transplant recipients. Viral pathogens can exert direct pathologic effects on tissue but can also exert indirect effects, such as contributing to opportunistic infection susceptibility, graft rejection, and oncogenesis.

Disclosures

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Previous Publication

This case was originally reported in the 121st Okinawa Association of Medical Sciences in 2015 in Okinawa, Japan, and the conference abstracts were covered in The Okinawa Medical Journal. The publication did not provide any detailed, step-by-step analysis of clinical decision-making.