Objective: Ganciclovir is a first line drug for treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and side effects of relatively low and high doses of Ganciclovir in the treatment of neonatal congenital CMV infection.
Methods: 37 neonates with congenital CMV infection were randomly assigned to high-dose (n = 19) and low-dose Ganciclovir groups (n = 18). The high-dose Ganciclovir group was injected with Ganciclovir of 7.5 mg/kg in the inducement phase and of 10 mg/kg in the maintaining phase. The low-dose Ganciclovir group was injected with Ganciclovir of 5 mg/kg in the inducement and the maintaining phases. The efficacy and side effects were observed in the two groups.
Results: The results of different doses of GCV treatment of congenital CMV infection in symptomatic by the clinical symptoms were improved, high-dose treatment group CMV-IgM negative rate of 89.5%, CMV-DNA negative rate of 73.7%; low-dose treatment group CMV-IgM switch negative rate of 83.3%, CMV-DNA negative rate was 77.8%, no significant difference between the two groups. Low-dose GCV treatment of congenital CMV infection in newborns with symptomatic side effects than high dose GCV, the low dose group neutropenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia was lower than the high dose group, the difference was significant (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Low- dose GCV treatment of symptomatic congenital CMV infection with high-doses of the same clinical efficacy, and less side effects than high-doses of GCV.