{"doi":"10.1002/pbc.31910","title":"Seeing the Bigger Picture: Cytomegalovirus Retinitis Screening in Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Patients","abstract":"INTRODUCTION: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation poses significant risks in pediatric patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), including the potential for CMV retinitis, which can cause severe ocular complications. A previously published CMV retinitis screening protocol called for intensive and frequent screening exams with retinal photography. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the prevalence and incidence of CMV retinitis, assess institutional adherence to previously published protocol, and determine the impact and efficacy of the CMV retinitis screening protocol. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study of 228 patients treated at Children's Hospital Colorado from 2015 to 2021. RESULTS: Among allogeneic HSCT patients, 25.4% developed CMV viremia, and of these, three developed CMV retinitis (mean time from viremia to retinitis diagnosis: 53.6 days). Adherence to the protocol was suboptimal; 27.6% of patients with CMV viremia underwent recommended dilated fundus exam and photography within 2 weeks of diagnosis. Despite this, no significant long-term ocular complications were noted, suggesting limited benefit from early and frequent screenings. CONCLUSIONS: Within this cohort, 5.2% of patients with CMV viremia developed retinitis, and 15.4% of all patients developed at least one ocular complication. Universal pre-HSCT screening with fundus photography did not result in early detection of retinitis. In this cohort, CMV retinitis did not develop until 5-12 weeks after viremia was detected, making early screening unlikely to have clinical significance. This study highlights the necessity of ocular screenings-as all patients with CMV retinitis were asymptomatic-but advocates for a more streamlined approach to improve adherence and protect ocular health during the vulnerable post-transplant period.","journal":"Pediatric Blood & Cancer","year":2025,"id":553598,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9667,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1450565,"name":"Kylene DeSmith","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1450566,"name":"Brittany Marks","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1114833,"name":"Arpita Deb","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1450567,"name":"Gao Dexiang","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1450186,"name":"Lauren C. Mehner","orcid":"0000-0002-7347-3453","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":654181,"name":"Hesham Eissa","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1450185,"name":"Katherine Lind","orcid":"0000-0003-1207-8457","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":22,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:54:41.819682Z","pmid":"40682285","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}