Seven patients allografted for haematological malignancy (5x) and severe aplastic anemia (2x) underwent a pre-emptive treatment for cytomegalovirus infection with valganciclovir. The medián time at which cytomegalovirus DNA was detected in recipients blood was at 43 days (range 33-53) and valganciclovir was started 53 (range 40-62) days after transplantation. Its overall administration took 28 (range 14-35) days. The daily dose had to be reduced from 1800 to 900 mg in two patients due to neutropenia. The therapy was switched to intravenous foscarnet in one patient who developed gastrointestinal graft versus host disease. For the six patients on valganciclovir only, viral DNA negativity in the blood was achieved after 21 days (range 14-28) of treatment. The results support previous studies and demonstrate valganciclovir to be a fea-sible alternativě in the pre-emptive therapy of cytomegalovirus infections after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

        Key words: cytomegalovirus, valganciclovir, pre-emptive treatment, hemopoietic stem cell transplantation