Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. May 26, 2024; 12(15): 2542-2550
Published online May 26, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i15.2542
Efficacy and safety of carrimycin in ten patients with severe pneumonia following solid organ transplantation
Xian-Quan Cui, Lu-Wei Zhang, Peng Zhao, Jing-Jing Feng
Xian-Quan Cui, Peng Zhao, Department of Organ Transplantation, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China
Lu-Wei Zhang, Jing-Jing Feng, Department of Blood Purification, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Cui XQ and Zhang LW designed this study and wrote the manuscript; Zhao P participated in collection and analysis of data; Feng JJ reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by Qilu Hospital of Shandong University Institutional Review Board (Approval No. KYLL-202306-099).
Informed consent statement: The study was reviewed and approved for exemption from informed consent by the Institutional Review Board of Qilu Hospital, Shandong University.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: All data are kept by the corresponding author and can be released upon reasonable request.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement -checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement- checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jing-Jing Feng, MBBS, Doctor, Department of Blood Purification, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, No. 107 Wenhua West Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China. feng.jing.jing@126.com
Received: January 25, 2024
Peer-review started: January 25, 2024
First decision: February 8, 2024
Revised: February 24, 2024
Accepted: March 28, 2024
Article in press: March 28, 2024
Published online: May 26, 2024
Processing time: 110 Days and 3.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The number of patients undergoing solid organ transplantation has increased annually. However, infections in solid organ transplant recipients can have a severe effect on patient survival owing to the continued use of immunosuppressants. Carrimycin is a novel macrolide antibiotic produced by genetically engineered streptomyces spiramyceticus harboring a 4’’-O-isovaleryltransferase gene (ist) from streptomyces thermotoleran. Carrimycin has good antibacterial and antiviral effects. However, no relevant studies have been conducted on the efficacy and safety of carrimycin in patients with severe pneumonia (SP) after solid organ transplantation.

AIM

To explore the efficacy and safety of carrimycin in patients with SP after solid organ transplantation to provide a medication reference for clinical treatment.

METHODS

In March 2022, ten patients with SP following solid-organ transplantation were treated at our hospital between January 2021 and March 2022. When the condition was critical and difficult to control with other drugs, carrimycin was administered. These ten patients' clinical features and treatment protocols were retrospectively analyzed, and the efficacy and safety of carrimycin for treating SP following solid organ transplantation were evaluated.

RESULTS

All ten patients were included in the analysis. Regarding etiological agent detection, there were three cases of fungal pneumonia, two cases of bacterial pneumonia, two cases of Pneumocystis pneumonia, and three cases of mixed infections. After treatment with carrimycin, the disease in seven patients significantly improved, the course of the disease was significantly shortened, fever was quickly controlled, chest computed tomography was significantly improved, and oxygenation was significantly improved. Finally, the patients were discharged after curing. One patient died of acute respiratory distress syndrome, and two patients discontinued treatment.

CONCLUSION

Carrimycin is a safe and effective treatment modality for SP following solid organ transplantation. Carrimycin may have antibacterial and antiviral effects in patients with SP following solid organ transplantation.

Keywords: Carrimycin; Organ transplantation; Severe pneumonia; Immunosuppressant; Infection; Antiviral drugs

Core Tip: In this study, the clinical features and treatment projects of 10 cases of severe pneumonia (SP) after solid organ transplantation were retrospectively analyzed. It was conformed that carrimycin is a safe and effective modality in the treatment of SP after solid organ transplantation.