Congenital cytomegalovirus infection in offspring of liver transplant recipients.

There has been an increasing number of women undergoing liver transplantation during their childbearing years. As the number of pregnancies among these women increases, complications during pregnancy and risks to the fetus associated with liver transplantation will be better defined. We report three cases of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in offspring of liver transplant recipients. Two of these recipients had preterm labor and gave birth at approximately 23 weeks' gestation; both neonates had clinical (hydrops fetalis), laboratory, and placental evidence of CMV infection. The third recipient gave birth at 26 weeks' gestation because of severe preeclampsia, and the neonate died at 12 days of age of CMV sepsis. Placental CMV infection was confirmed in this case by polymerase chain reaction analysis, which is a valuable tool for prospectively or retrospectively diagnosing this infection. Our findings indicate that CMV infection poses a significant risk to offspring of liver transplant recipients.