Incidence and antiviral treatment of cytomegalovirus infection in infants with biliary atresia.

PURPOSE: Patients with biliary atresia (BA) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection may have poorer outcomes after Kasai portoenterostomy (KPE) than uninfected patients, suggesting a rationale for antiviral treatment (AVT). We aimed to describe the incidence of CMV infection and of AVT in BA patients, and to detect any differences between infected and uninfected patients to conclude if AVT is of use. METHODS: Data on BA patients who underwent KPE 2004-2020 were retrospectively collected, and the outcome was analyzed with regard to CMV status. RESULTS: Fifteen out of forty-six (33%) BA patients had signs of ongoing CMV infection. They did not differ significantly from the CMV-negative patients regarding rate of prematurity, birth weight, or biochemical markers but were slightly older at KPE. All patients received steroids postoperatively and all patients with ongoing CMV infection received AVT with very good effect on viremia and without major side effects. The AVT consisted of oral valganciclovir (10-40 (- 58) mg/kg/d) or intravenous ganciclovir (5.3-11 mg/kg/d). CONCLUSION: Ongoing CMV infection is common in this group of patients. The viremia can effectively be treated with AVT without any major side effects. Larger, randomized studies are needed to clarify the possible effect on clinical outcome.

Kidney volume, kidney function, and ambulatory blood pressure in children born extremely preterm with and without nephrocalcinosis.

BACKGROUND: Reduced kidney volume (KV) following prematurity is a proxy for reduced nephron number and is associated with the development of hypertension and end-stage renal disease in adults. We investigated whether extreme prematurity affects KV, function, and blood pressure in school-aged children and if nephrocalcinosis (NC) developed during the neonatal period had additional effects. METHODS: We investigated 60 children at a mean age of 7.7 years: 20 born extremely preterm (EPT < 28 weeks gestational age with NC (NC+)), 20 born EPT without NC (NC-), and 19 born as full-term infants (control). We measured KV by ultrasound, collected blood and urine samples to evaluate renal function, and measured office and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (ABPM). RESULTS: Children born EPT had significantly smaller kidneys (EPT (NC+ NC-) vs control (estimated difference, 11.8 (CI - 21.51 to - 2.09 ml), p = 0.018) and lower but normal cystatin C-based glomerular filtration rate compared with control (estimated difference, - 10.11 (CI - 0.69 to - 19.5), p = 0.035). KV and function were not different between NC+ and NC- groups. Change in KV in relation to BSA (KV/BSA) from the neonatal period to school age showed significantly more EPT children with neonatal NC having a negative evolution of KV (p = 0.01). Blood pressure was normal and not different between the 3 groups. Fifty percent of EPT had a less than 10% day-to-night decline in ABPM. CONCLUSIONS: Kidney growth and volume is affected by EPT birth with NC being a potential aggravating factor. Circadian blood pressure regulation seems abnormal in EPT-born children.

Considerable differences in management of cytomegalovirus infection in patients with biliary atresia.

Objectives: Patients with biliary atresia (BA) and ongoing cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection may have poorer outcomes after Kasai portoenterostomy than uninfected patients. Still, there is no consensus on the usefulness of viral testing and antiviral treatment (AVT). This study aims to explore the need for future research on AVT for CMV infection by assessing how CMV infection in BA patients is managed in different centers. Methods: An online questionnaire with 10 questions was offered to participants at an international congress on BA, organized in collaboration with the European Reference Network for rare liver diseases in 2022. Answers to questions were either dichotomic or multiple choices of different numeric intervals. Ongoing CMV infection was defined by detecting cytomegalovirus-immunoglobulin M (CMV-IgM) in serum or cytomegalovirus-deoxyribonucleic acid (CMV-DNA) by polymerase chain reaction in blood or urine. Results: There were 43 respondents from 36 centers in 26 countries. The total number of BA patients per year was between 208 and 380 from centers with 0-5 to >20 BA patients yearly (median 6-10). CMV infection was tested in 27 centers (75%), of which 18 (67%) use AVT. The rate of CMV infection varied between 0%-5% and 40%-50% (median 5%-10%). Willingness to treat the infection did not differ between centers with low and high rates of CMV infection. Conclusions: Most centers test for CMV infection, and a considerable proportion use AVT despite the lack of evidence of its benefits. A future randomized study on treating CMV infection in BA patients is necessary and feasible.

Incidence, Impact and Treatment of Ongoing CMV Infection in Patients with Biliary Atresia in Four European Centres.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been suggested to be of importance for the development and outcome of biliary atresia (BA). However, most data are only available from single centre studies. We retrospectively collected data on rates, outcomes, and treatments for ongoing CMV infection at the time of Kasai portoenterostomy (KPE) from four different tertiary centres in Europe. The rate of ongoing CMV infection varied between 10-32% in the four centres. CMV positive patients were significantly older and had higher levels of several liver biochemistries at the time of KPE (p < 0.05 for all comparisons). In the largest centre, CMV infection was more common in non-Caucasians, and CMV infected patients had poorer long-term survival with native liver than CMV negative patients (p = 0.0001). In contrast, survival with native liver in the subgroup of CMV infected patients who had received antiviral treatment was similar to the CMV negative group. We conclude that ongoing CMV infection at the time of KPE occurs in a significant proportion of BA patients and that these patients seem to differ from CMV negative patients regarding age and biochemistry at the time of KPE as well as long-term survival with native liver. The latter difference may be reduced by antiviral treatment, but randomized, controlled trials are needed before such treatment can be recommended routinely.