Abstract
Between January 1988 and May 1991 intravenous ganciclovir (GCV) treatment was administered to eight male AIDS-patients with unilateral cytomegalovirus(CMV)-retinitis. Despite of continuous therapy with at least the recommended dose of GCV, three patients developed slowly progressive CMV-retinitis in the fellow eye after 4 to 13 months. The progression could not be stopped by GCV and thus bilateral blindness resulted after 12 to 22 months. The number of CD4-lymphocytes in the blood was reduced in all patients, but particularly in patients with progressive disease. Treatment failure was partly related to the duration of CMV-retinitis and partly to the degree of immunodeficiency. Intravenous treatment with GCV alone can not stop the progression of CMV-retinitis in long-term survivors and in those with advanced immunodeficiency.
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Bernauer, W., Meyer, P., Zimmerli, W. et al. Failure to control AIDS-related CMV-retinitis with intravenous ganciclovir. Int Ophthalmol 16, 453–457 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00918436
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00918436