Mystery pain for liver transplant patient

We have a liver transplant patient who has just completed a 12 month course of pegylated interferon for recurrent hepatitis C infection. 2 weeks ago he experienced a sharp pain under his ribs on the right hand side. Subsequent investigations including an abdominal CT and ECHO (he is known to have aortic stenosis) were normal. However, he was pyrexial and grew a klebsiella pneumoniae in his blood cultures. He had no overt signs of a chest infection. He responded to IV antibiotics but remains a bit of a mystery. The only possible risk factor we could identify was his use of a water filled nasal CPAP machine for sleep apnoea. I found a report on the web of a german study in progress but little else and I would be very interested to hear if anyone has any information.

tracey.dudley@uhb.nhs.uk

Many thanks

With best wishes

Tracey

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Tracey Dudley
Post-transplant Hepatitis Clinical Nurse Specialist
The Liver Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery Unit
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Birmingham
UK