Late infection in cardiac allograft recipients: profiles, incidence, and outcome.

Infection continues to cause substantial morbidity and mortality after heart transplantation. Studies focusing on this problem have concentrated on the early posttransplant period, and it is uncertain to what extent infection continues to add to morbidity later after transplantation. Fifty-four patients surviving at least 1 year after heart transplantation made up the study population in this study, and they were surveyed for infections beyond 1 year. In this group there were 15 infections, an incidence of 0.3 infections per patient or 0.016 infections per patient-months of follow-up. Only nine of these infections necessitated hospitalization; two, however, were fatal. Actuarial risk of all late infections and late infections necessitating hospitalization was 13% and 6%, respectively, at 2 years. As expected, bacterial infections made up the largest group (60%), followed by viral disease (27%). Two patients had pulmonary infections, one with Aspergillus and one with Pneumocystis. These data demonstrate that although rates of infection in heart recipients continue to exceed those in the general population, the rates are considerably lower than those in what is seen early after heart transplantation. Despite this, the more unusual infectious agents associated with immune compromise continue to be present.