Introduction:

Renal transplantation is the preferred treatment for end-stage chronic kidney disease, improving quality of life and survival. However, the necessary immunosuppression increases the risk of infections, especially cytomegalovirus infections, which can cause serious complications and compromise graft viability and patient survival.

Objective:

To identify the clinical characteristics of renal transplant patients and the frequency of cytomegalovirus infection.

Methods:

An observational, descriptive, retrospective, and cross-sectional study was carried out with non-probabilistic sampling of consecutive cases, covering renal transplanted patients from the Hospital de Clínicas, 2006-2024. Patients with negative pre-transplant and positive post-transplant serology for cytomegalovirus were included, excluding those who received prophylaxis.

Results:

One hundred eighty-nine renal transplant patients were included, of which 22.8% presented positive viral load for cytomegalovirus. The majority were men 66.7%, with a mean age of 38 years, 43.9% did not receive cytomegalovirus prophylaxis, and 88.4% of those treated used ganciclovir and valganciclovir. The main comorbidities were arterial hypertension 65.6% and chronic kidney disease 96.3%. Of the transplants, 51.3% were from living donors, with 84.1% donor+/recipient+ seropositivity. Active cytomegalovirus infection occurred in 7% of patients with detectable viral load.

Conclusion:

22.8% of patients had detectable cytomegalovirus viral load, 7% had active infection and the frequency varied throughout the period. The most frequent comorbidities in renal transplant recipients were arterial hypertension and chronic kidney disease.

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