AspergillusPericarditis with Tamponade in a Renal Transplant Patient

Abstract

Aspergilluspericarditis is a rare and life-threatening infection in immunosuppressed patients. It has nonspecific clinical manifestations that often mimic other disease entities especially in patients who have extensive comorbidities. Diagnosis is oftentimes delayed and rarely done antemortem. A high degree of suspicion in immunocompromised patients is necessary for evaluation and timely diagnosis. This is a case ofAspergilluspericarditis with cardiac tamponade in a renal transplant patient with liver cirrhosis. Two months after transplant, he developed decompensation of his cirrhosis from hepatitis C, acute cellular rejection, andKluyverabacteremia, followed by vancomycin-resistantEnterococcus faecium(VRE) bacteremia. Four months after transplant, the patient presented with lethargy and fluid overload. He subsequently developed shock and ventilator-dependent respiratory failure. An echocardiogram showed pericardial effusion with cardiac tamponade. He had emergent pericardiocentesis that showed purulent drainage. He was started on broad-spectrum antibiotics. Amphotericin B was initiated when the pericardial fluid grew mold that was later identified asAspergillus fumigatus. The patient quickly decompensated and expired.