Late CMV disease is an important clinical problem in liver transplant recipients who receive antiviral prophylaxis, and is strongly and independently associated with mortality. Strategies to prevent late CMV disease are warranted.

Late CMV disease develops in a substantial proportion of D+R- recipients after prophylaxis is discontinued, is not accurately predicted by patient factors, and is associated with increased mortality. New strategies to identify D+R- patients at risk and to reduce the incidence and impact of late CMV disease in this group are warranted.

Given the limited information regarding BK virusassociated nephropathy (BKVN) in pediatric kidney transplant recipients, we assessed the incidence, risk factors, clinical and virologic features of BKVN in pediatric renal transplant recipients at a single transplant center by means of a retrospective cohort study. Histologically confirmed BKVN developed in 6 of 173 (3.5%) kidney transplant recipients at a median of 15 months post-transplant (range: 4-47 months). At a median follow-up of 28 months (range: 5-32), all patients had functioning grafts with mean creatinine and GFR of 1.9 mg/dL and 58 mL/min/1.73 m 2 , respectively. At the time of diagnosis, all cases had viruria (median 6.1 × 10 6 copies/mL, range: 10 5 to 3.9 × 10 8 copies/mL) and viremia (median 21 000 copies/mL, range: 10 000-40 000 copies/mL). Recipient seronegativity for BKV was significantly associated with the development of BKVN (p = 0.01). BKVN is an important cause of late allograft dysfunction and is strongly associated with recipient seronegativity in pediatric kidney transplant recipients. Further studies to confirm this finding and to define the clinical utility of routine pre-transplant BKV serologic testing are warranted.

Objective The goals of this study were to describe the clinical and anatomic features of infants undergoing Kasai portoenterostomy (KPE) for biliary atresia (BA), and to examine associations between these parameters and outcomes. Methods Infants enrolled in the prospective Childhood Liver Disease Research and Education Network, who underwent KPE were studied. Patients enrolled in a blinded, interventional trial were excluded from survival analysis. Primary end-points were successful surgical drainage (total bilirubin less than 2 mg/dL within the first three months), transplant-free survival (Kaplan-Meier), and time to transplant/death (Cox regression). Results KPE was performed in 244 infants (54% female; mean age 65± 29 days). Transplant-free survival was 53.7% and 46.7% at 1 and 2 years post-KPE. The risk of transplant/death was significantly lower in the 45.6% of patients who achieved successful bile drainage within 3 months post-KPE (HR 0.08, p<0.001). The risk of transplant/death was increased in patients with porta hepatis atresia (Ohi Type II and III vs. Type I; HR 2.03, p=0.030), non-patent common bile duct (Ohi Subtype b, c, and d vs. a; HR 4.31, p=0.022), BA splenic malformation syndrome (HR 1.92, p=0.025), ascites > 20 ml (HR=1.90, p=0.0230), nodular liver appearance compared to firm (HR=1.61, p=0.008), and age at KPE ≥ 75 days (HR 1.73, p<0.002). Outcome was not associated with gestational age, gender, race, ethnicity, or extent of porta hepatis dissection. Conclusion Anatomic pattern of BA, BASM, presence of ascites and nodular liver appearance at KPE, and early postoperative jaundice clearance are significant predictors of transplant-free survival.

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