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A short tale of blood, kidney and brain: BK virus encephalitis in an allogeneic stem cell transplant recipient

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 52, pages 907–909 (2017)Cite this article

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Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HCT) is a potentially curative therapy for many tumors and nonmalignant disorders. However, it is associated with diverse complications, which are responsible for the high morbidity and mortality rates. Particularly during the early phase after allo-HCT, infectious complications remain the main clinical challenge in this scenario.

Among bone marrow transplant recipients, evidence of BK virus (BKV) replication can be found in up to 50% of patients, and BKV disease manifested as hemorrhagic cystitis in 10-25% of patients.1 By contrast, BKV disease affecting tissues, other than the uroepithelial cells, has been rarely described. The clinical manifestations of BKV encephalitis are not well known, and diagnostic criteria have not been described, since only a few cases have been reported.2, 3 Here we present a case of fatal BKV encephalitis in a post-allo-HCT patient.

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Author notes

  1. C Bourlon and S Alamoudi: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Allogeneic Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada

    C Bourlon, S Alamoudi, A Viswabandya, S Thyagu, F V Michelis, D (D-H) Kim, J H Lipton, H A Messner & U Deotare

  2. Transplant Infectious Diseases, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada

    D Kumar

Authors
  1. C Bourlon
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  2. S Alamoudi
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  3. D Kumar
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  4. A Viswabandya
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  5. S Thyagu
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  6. F V Michelis
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  7. D (D-H) Kim
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  8. J H Lipton
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  9. H A Messner
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  10. U Deotare
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to U Deotare.

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Bourlon, C., Alamoudi, S., Kumar, D. et al. A short tale of blood, kidney and brain: BK virus encephalitis in an allogeneic stem cell transplant recipient. Bone Marrow Transplant 52, 907–909 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2017.18

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