First Reported Use of Artesunate Adjunctive Therapy for Severe BK Polyoma Virus Hemorrhagic Cystitis (BKPyV-HC)

BKV is ubiquitous with 80-90% seropositivity. BKV establishes latency in kidney tubular epithelial/urothelial cells but is shed in urine. Reactivation may cause interstitial nephritis (BKV-IN) after renal transplant (Ktxp) and hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) and/or BKV-IN after allo-HSCT. BKV-HC occurs 2-8 wks after HSCT. Diagnosis requires: cystitis, macroscopic hematuria and urine (U) BK VL>7log10 copies/ml. High-level BK viruria occurs in>80% post allo-HSCT but only 5-20% develop HC. Plasma (PL) VLs are elevated in 60% and declining PL-VL correlates with improvement.
Source: Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation - Category: Hematology Authors: Tags: 535 Source Type: research