Survival of lung transplant patients with cystic fibrosis harboring panresistant bacteria other than Burkholderia cepacia, compared with patients harboring sensitive bacteria.

BACKGROUND

The impact of panresistant bacteria, other than Burkholderia cepacia, on the survival after lung transplantation in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) remains controversial.

METHODS

To determine the impact of panresistant bacteria in CF patients on survival after lung transplantation a retrospective multicenter study was performed. All lung transplant recipients with a pre-transplant diagnosis of CF, at the University of Toronto (n = 53) and Duke University (n = 50), were included. Patients were included in the panresistant group if at least one specimen isolated from their respiratory secretions grew bacteria resistant or intermediate to all classes of antibiotics tested. Patients with sensitive or resistant B cepacia were excluded because of its adverse impact upon post-transplant survival.

RESULTS

Forty-five of 103 (43.7%) patients harbored panresistant bacteria (43 had Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 1 had Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and 1 had Achromobacter xylosoxidans). According to log-rank test, there was decreased survival in patients with panresistant bacteria compared to patients with sensitive bacteria (survival: 91.1 +/- 4.2% vs 98.3 +/- 1.7% at 3 months; 88.6 +/- 4.8% vs 96.6 +/- 2.4% at 1 year; 63.2 +/- 8.6% vs 90.7 +/- 4.0% at 3 years; 58.3 +/- 9.2% vs 85.6 +/- 5.2% at 5 years; p = 0.016). The results did not differ significantly between the two centers. Both groups had similar or better survival than CF patients as reported by the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) registry (1-year, 86.0%; 3 years, 65.4%; 5 years, 49.6%).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with CF harboring panresistant bacteria have slightly decreased survival, but their survival is comparable to the results published by the UNOS registry.