Posaconazole prophylaxis--impact on incidence of invasive fungal disease and antifungal treatment in haematological patients.

Since two large-scale, randomised studies on posaconazole prophylaxis have demonstrated a clear benefit for patients at high risk for contracting invasive fungal disease (IFD), posaconazole prophylaxis has been adopted as standard of care for this patient collective. Several years on from implementation at our institution, we wanted to evaluate its impact on the incidence and use of empirical antifungal therapy in a real-life setting. We analysed retrospectively incidence and severity of IFD in high-risk patients with prophylaxis, using a historical cohort as comparator.

Classification of invasive fungal disease in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia.

Invasive fungal diseases (IFD) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Their incidence has risen dramatically in recent years. The diagnosis of IFDs remains difficult, even if the European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)/Mycosis Study Group (MSG) criteria are applied for study purposes to classify the likelihood of these infections.