October 2020
The burden of CMV infection and real-life data of CMV prophylaxis
Dr. Anke Verlinden, Hematologist at University Hospital Antwerp
To date, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections remain a common complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantations (HSCTs), and often result in increased morbidity and mortality. CMV reactivations therefore not only pose a significant treatment burden to patients but also influence the economic burden of HSCTs. Efficient pre-emptive treatment with antivirals and prophylaxis are thus of utmost importance to control or prevent CMV infections. After the promising results with letermovir for CMV prophylaxis in phase III clinical trials, several reports on real-world experiences with CMV prophylaxis were presented at the recent European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) 2020 meeting. In this new edition of BJH HematoTalks, Dr. Anke Verlinden, hematologist at the University Hospital Antwerp, talks us through these real-world data of CMV prophylaxis and discusses how these findings correlate to what could be expected from clinical trials.
This HematoTalk is brought to you by the publisher of the Belgian Journal of Hematology (BJH) in partnership with MSD.
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