A Randomized Study of Quantiferon-CMV-Directed Versus Fixed Duration Valganciclovir Prophylaxis to Reduce Late CMV Following Lung Transplantation

Background We provide the results of the first interventional study of CMV-specific immune monitoring to direct the length of antiviral prophylaxis in lung transplantation (LTx). Methods Patients (n = 118) at risk of CMV infection were randomized 1:2 to either 5 months or variable length valganciclovir prophylaxis (5-11 months post-LTx), as determined by the QuantiFERON (QFN)-CMV assay. Patients with a negative QFN-CMV assay ( 600 copies/ml) within the blood was significantly reduced in patients with a positive QFN-CMV assay compared to those without protective immunity (13% vs 67%, p = 0.0003), as was the incidence of severe viremia (>10,000 copies/ml) (3% vs 50%, p

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