Aseptic meningitis following cardiac transplantation: clinical characteristics and relationship to immunosuppressive regimen.

Neurologic disorders are uncommon but alarming complications of cardiac transplantation. Of 29 patients from the Utah Cardiac Transplant Program (UCTP) who had lumbar puncture because of change in neurologic function, or to assess fever of uncertain etiology, CSF pleocytosis was present in 14 patients, 4 of whom had an active infectious process involving the nervous system. In 10 other patients, CSF pleocytosis with negative cultures appeared following treatment with OKT3 monoclonal antibody. The most prominent clinical signs of this aseptic meningitis syndrome are fever and transient cognitive dysfunction.