Antimicrobial Considerations Specific to Solid Organ Transplant Population

Monica Mahoney, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID, clinical pharmacy coordinator of infectious diseases at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, explains the antimicrobial considerations that are specific to the solid organ transplant population.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“This is a unique patient population. As soon as they receive their organ, they are going to be on immunosuppressants; sometimes for months, sometimes for life. Of course, the immunosuppressant is going to suppress [their] body’s own ability to fight infection, which predisposes [them] to either opportunistic infections, or to acquire infections as anyone else would, from a cut, a scrape, or a hospital stay.

Because they are on immunosuppressants, they might be colonized with more resistant organisms. We might not have the antibiotics that we need to appropriately treat these patients and so they might need to be on antibiotics that have more adverse reactions [and] they might have to be on combination therapy, as well. So, compared to the general patient, they have a higher caliber of infections that we have to worry about.”