Intravesicular cidofovir for the treatment of polyomavirus-associated hemorrhagic cystitis

OBJECTIVE : To review the literature regarding the use of intravesicular cidofovir in the treatment of polyomavirus-associated hemorrhagic cystitis. DATA SOURCES : Searches of PubMed were conducted, with key search terms including intravesicular cidofovir, polyomavirus, BK virus, JC virus, and hemorrhagic cystitis. Limits were set to include human subjects. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION : All articles identified were evaluated, and one was excluded due to being published only in the German language. All case studies/case series were included if patients received at least 1 dose of intravesicular cidofovir for treatment of cystitis. DATA SYNTHESIS : Polyomavirus-associated hemorrhagic cystitis is more common in immunocompromised patients, particularly those who have undergone stem cell transplantation. Early-onset cystitis is often due to chemotherapy agents, while cystitis that develops 10-14 days into therapy is often associated with infection with polyomavirus, such as BK virus. There is no standard of therapy for polyomavirus-associated cystitis other than hyperhydration and continuous bladder irrigation, and many different therapeutic agents have been used in this setting, with mixed results. One such agent, intravenous cidofovir, provides clinical improvement but carries a risk of renal failure. Intravesicular cidofovir has been reported in case reports/series to provide positive symptomatic improvement; however, it has not been universally found to decrease urine viral load. CONCLUSIONS : At this time, it appears that intravesicular cidofovir may be used as an option to provide symptomatic relief in patients with polyomavirus-associated hemorrhagic cystitis. However, it is not definitively known whether its use significantly decreases urine virus load in these patients. Larger clinical trials need to be conducted to fully understand the role of intravesicular cidofovir in this setting.