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* From the Departments of Pathology (Drs. Zander, Donnelly, and Scornik), Medicine (Dr. Baz), Pediatrics (Drs. Visner and Faro), and Surgery (Dr. Staples), University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL.
Correspondence to: Dani S. Zander, MD, Department of Pathology, Immunology, and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Box 100275, Gainesville, FL 32610; e-mail: zander{at}pathology.ufl.edu
| Abstract |
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Design: Retrospective review of medical records and pathology slides from all patients dying within 30 days after lung transplantation, and biopsy specimen diagnoses from all lung allograft recipients at the University of Florida.
Patients: Nine deaths occurred during the first 30 days after transplantation among 117 patients undergoing 123 isolated lung transplantation operations.
Results: Infections accounted for the greatest number of deaths (bacterial pneumonia, four patients; catheter-related bacteremia, one patient). Persistent pneumonia confirmed by biopsy specimen was usually accompanied by histologic manifestations of acute cellular rejection and was associated with poor patient outcome (ie, death or subsequent development of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome). In two patients, antibody-mediated rejection either was the immediate cause of death (hyperacute rejection, one patient) or preceded a fatal case of pneumonia (accelerated antibody-mediated rejection, one patient). Other causes of death included hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy secondary to an intraoperative cardiac arrest (one patient), pulmonary venous thrombosis with bacterial colonization of the thrombotic material (one patient), and ischemic reperfusion injury (one patient). In most patients, more than one type of diagnostic technique was needed to ascertain the cause of the catastrophic decline.
Conclusions: The causes of early posttransplant death in our patient group included infections, antibody-mediated rejection, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy secondary to cardiac arrest, pulmonary venous thrombosis, and ischemic reperfusion injury. Because these processes often demonstrate overlapping clinical and morphologic features requiring multiple diagnostic techniques for resolution, a systematic multimodality approach to diagnosis is advantageous for determining the causes of decline in individual patients and for estimating the incidences of the different causes of early graft and patient loss in the lung transplant population.
Key Words: antibody-mediated rejection death early hyperacute rejection lung transplantation mortality primary allograft failure
| Introduction |
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The clinical syndrome of primary graft failure consists of progressive hypoxemia, decreased lung compliance, and diffuse interstitial and alveolar infiltrates developing rapidly after transplantation, visible on a chest radiograph.7 8 Although ischemic reperfusion injury probably accounts for many examples of this syndrome, antibody-mediated rejection, acute cellular rejection, pneumonia, aspiration, volume overload, and venous anastomotic obstruction can display similar physiologic and radiographic abnormalities. Systematic appraisal for these potential causes of catastrophic decline would ideally employ a diagnostic algorithm geared to assess for each consideration. In particular, underdiagnosis of antibody-mediated rejection is likely unless a sensitive lymphocyte cross-match can be obtained. Our earlier analysis of patients with severe early pulmonary graft dysfunction revealed that low-level preformed antibodies directed against class II, and perhaps against class I, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antigens were a risk factor for severe early pulmonary graft dysfunction with the potential for progression to death.9
In this study, we sought to determine the causes of early deaths in lung transplant recipients at the University of Florida (Gainesville, FL). Clinical, radiologic, microbiological, immunologic, and morphologic information varied in importance for individual patients, with most final diagnoses requiring the input of at least two types of data. Our results suggest that the use of a multimodality algorithm for the assessment of early graft dysfunction may accelerate the determination of the etiology of dysfunction in individual patients and, ultimately, enhance the promptness and potential effectiveness of therapeutic interventions.
| Materials and Methods |
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All patients were treated with triple immunosuppression consisting of cyclosporine A (Sandimmune or Neoral; Novartis Pharmaceuticals; East Hanover, NJ) or tacrolimus (Prograf; Fujisawa Healthcare; Deerfield, IL), prednisone (Roxane Laboratories; Columbus, OH), and azathioprine (Imuran; Glaxo Wellcome; Research Triangle Park, NC) or mycophenolate mofetil (CellCept; Roche Pharmaceuticals; Nutley, NJ). Induction with OKT3 (Orthoclone OKT3; Ortho Biotech; Raritan, NJ) was performed only with the first 38 lung transplant recipients. After hospital discharge, the therapy of several pediatric patients was changed from cyclosporine A to tacrolimus. Pediatric patients undergoing transplantation in 1999 and later also received an interleukin 2 receptor antagonist, either daclizumab (Zenapax; Roche Pharmaceuticals) or basiliximab (Simulect; Novartis Pharmaceuticals) as part of the induction. Prophylaxis against bacterial pneumonia consisted of at least 5 days treatment with IV clindamycin (Cleocin; Pharmacia & Upjohn; Peapack, NJ) and ceftazidime (Ceptaz or Fortaz; Glaxo Wellcome) or cefepime (Maxipime; Dura Pharmaceuticals; San Diego, CA). In addition, antibiotics given to several patients were adjusted as appropriate in accordance with the results of their preoperative sputum cultures. IV ganciclovir (Cytovene; Roche Pharmaceuticals) was administered as antiviral prophylaxis when either the donor or the recipient was seropositive for cytomegalovirus. If ganciclovir was not administered and patients had serologic evidence of herpes simplex virus infection, oral acyclovir (Zovirax; Glaxo Wellcome) prophylaxis treatment was administered.
A flow cytometry cross-match was performed in all patients within the first 24 h after transplantation, and a cross-match by cytotoxicity was performed in selected patients. Details about these procedures can be found in a previous report.9 Bronchial washings were routinely obtained from the allograft at the time of reperfusion, and in the first 48 h after reperfusion, and were sent for bacterial, viral, mycobacterial, and fungal cultures. Additional bronchial washing fluid, blood, pleural fluid, peritoneal dialysis fluid, and allograft tissue were obtained and sent for studies, when indicated, based on the clinical findings. For patients who died, surgical pathology and autopsy materials were retrieved from the files of the University of Florida and were reviewed by one of the authors (D.S.Z.). Autopsy slides from patients 1, 5, and 9 also were reviewed by a second author (W.H.D.).
| Results |
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Most of these patients (six of nine patients) received a trial of nitric oxide, but only one patient (patient 8) responded by significantly improving oxygenation. Patient 6 was maintained on a regimen of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) from the first day after transplantation until the second lung transplant operation 4 days later, an example of a successful use of ECMO as a bridge to retransplantation. ECMO was planned for patient 5, but the patient suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest during the insertion of the catheters for ECMO and could not be resuscitated. For the other patients, the use of ECMO would probably not have altered the outcome of their complications. In the patient whose death was caused by reperfusion injury (patient 9), the lungs at autopsy demonstrated extensive airway remodeling with granulation tissue and fibrosis. This patient was considered a candidate for ECMO, but because he initially showed improvement with pressure-controlled inverse ratio ventilation, ECMO was not pursued. When it became evident that his condition was no longer improving, the patient was no longer a candidate for retransplantation. Patients 2 and 4 were not treated with nitric oxide or ECMO and died of bacterial pneumonia and septic shock. It is unlikely that improving oxygenation by either of these modalities would have changed the fatal course of these infections. Nor would these treatments have benefited patient 1, whose death was caused by hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
Laboratory data and morphologic findings were instrumental for determining the causes of respiratory decline in all patients. Antemortem allograft biopsy specimens were crucial for determining the causes of respiratory decline in three patients, and autopsies were crucial for four others. Likewise, cultures were crucial in six patients, contributory in two patients, and noncontributory in only one patient. Immunologic testing (ie, lymphocyte cross-matching against the donor) was least frequently useful but was crucial for ascertaining the causes of respiratory decline in two patients. Chest radiographic findings of patchy or diffuse bilateral alveolar and interstitial infiltrates (Fig 3 ) indicated the presence of, but not the nature of, existing abnormalities.
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| Discussion |
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In our population of lung transplant recipients, infection was the most common cause of early death. The high frequency of bacterial pneumonia and sepsis as causes of early deaths in our series parallels experiences at other centers. Husain et al3 reported a fatal infection in 6 of 12 patients who died within the first 30 days after transplantation, most often Gram-negative bacterial pneumonia. The other six patients in this series died because of intraoperative and postoperative complications, including two cases classified as allograft failure that showed diffuse organizing alveolar damage in the donor lung (one case) and pulmonary edema (one case); the second patient had secondary pulmonary hypertension. Cagle et al4 likewise reported a high frequency of Gram-negative pneumonia and diffuse alveolar damage in their patients who died early after transplantation, as well as perivascular infiltrates that suggested rejection in two individuals. In a large series by Bando et al,11 53 deaths occurred during the the first 100 days after transplantation. The deaths were caused by infection (25 patients), ARDS/diffuse alveolar damage (13 patients), intraoperative bleeding (6 patients), technical failure (5 patients), and other causes (4 patients).
In our patient group, acute bronchopneumonia was not an unusual finding in biopsy specimens obtained during the first 30 days after transplantation. However, persistence of the bronchopneumonia in multiple biopsy specimens boded poorly for patients, leading to death (two patients) or preceding the eventual development of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (two patients) in four of the five patients in whom it was observed. Interestingly, morphologic findings of acute cellular rejection accompanied the acute bronchopneumonia in these four patients. Although the number of cases is small, these data suggest that the combination of acute bronchopneumonia and acute cellular rejection may represent a risk factor for poor outcome.
In lung allograft recipients, antibody-mediated rejection is an uncommon cause of early death after transplantation. The four fatal cases of hyperacute rejection8 9 12 13 that have been reported share features that define a clinicopathologic syndrome probably representing the pulmonary analog of classic hyperacute rejection.14 These characteristics include the following: (1) the onset of pulmonary edema and hemorrhage during or immediately after transplantation; (2) the presence of antibodies to class I or II HLA antigens; (3) histologic findings of interstitial neutrophilia and diffuse alveolar damage, sometimes accompanied by platelet/fibrin thrombi13 and small-vessel vasculitis (ie, arterial or arteriolar fibrinoid necrosis)9 ; and (4) a rapidly fatal course. Although her immediate cause of death was bacterial pneumonia with septic shock, a second patient in our series also fits this clinicopathologic profile except that her anti-class I antibodies were first detected after transplantation, rather than before.
Given the high degree of clinical and radiographic overlap between ischemic reperfusion injury and hyperacute or accelerated antibody-mediated rejection, it is likely that cases of antibody-mediated rejection have been placed in the category of primary graft failure. Without a positive result for lymphocyte cross-matching, some examples may be classified as ischemic reperfusion injury based on the observation of diffuse alveolar damage in biopsy specimens. Neutrophil aggregation in alveolar capillaries is a feature of early diffuse alveolar damage. The histologic distinction between acute diffuse alveolar damage and hyperacute or accelerated antibody-mediated rejection rests on finding evidence of widespread endothelial injury (hemorrhage) associated with extensive and marked interstitial neutrophil infiltrates. Fibrinoid necrosis of vessels, prominent microthrombi, and parenchymal necrosis also weigh in favor of antibody-mediated rejection. Neutrophil aggregation primarily in alveolar sacs with lesser infiltration of the alveolar septa, however, fits better with a diagnosis of acute bronchopneumonia.
The clinical and histologic overlap between the different etiologies of early graft dysfunction suggests that a systematic approach to the differential diagnosis may be advantageous. Use of a multimodality algorithm (Fig 4 ) designed to assess for the major causes of early death may extend our ability to diagnose and manage patients with significant complications, and may also yield more accurate information regarding the frequencies of the different causes of early posttransplantation death. The prospective application of such an algorithm deserves further study.
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| Footnotes |
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Received for publication July 27, 2000. Accepted for publication November 3, 2000.
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