Publications by authors named "Pasikhova Y"

Background/aim: Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus causes significant morbidity, mortality, and excess healthcare costs when compared to vancomycin-susceptible isolates. Patients with hematological malignancies, especially those who undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, are at a particularly high risk for infections with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, with mortality ranging from 40-100%. Linezolid and daptomycin are the two most commonly used antibiotics for treatment of vancomycin-resistant enterococcal infections, however, there has been recent emergence of resistance to these drugs as well.

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Background: Human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) frequently reactivates following allogeneic stem cell transplant (alloHCT). Consensus guidelines note that haploidentical alloHCT may represent a high-risk population for which there is little evidence; this warrants further investigation.

Methods: In this single-center retrospective study, we evaluated 188 consecutive adult patients receiving haploidentical alloHCT between 11/2014 and 11/2020 and compared outcomes between patients with HHV-6B reactivation receiving targeted antiviral therapy and those who were clinically observed.

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Background: Posaconazole maintains broad antifungal activity and is employed for prevention and treatment of invasive fungal infections in oncology patients. Older formulations required therapeutic drug monitoring, and specific plasma drug levels have been recommended. This study evaluated factors associated with subtherapeutic concentrations with the newer delayed-release tablet formulation.

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Introduction Combination antifungal regimens are frequently employed in the treatment of invasive fungal infections in patients who are immunocompromised, particularly for cancer and transplant patients. Terbinafine is a potential agent of interest for combination regimens. Methods We reviewed data over a six-year period examining patient outcomes in terms of both mortality and distribution of pathogens.

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Objectives: This study aims to describe the clinical outcomes of combination therapy with sarilumab and baricitinib for severe novel Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) infection in cancer patients. With this study, we aim to evaluate the role of expanded immunotherapy for severely ill patients with COVID-19 respiratory infections with limited options. The secondary objective is to assess the safety of combination therapy with sarilumab and baricitinib for severe COVID-19 infection.

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Introduction Coccidian protozoa and microsporidian fungi are opportunistic pathogens increasingly implicated in infections in immunosuppressed individuals. These parasites typically infect the intestinal epithelium, resulting in secretory diarrhea and malabsorption. The disease burden and timeline are both greater and longer among immunosuppressed patients.

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Nocardia includes over 90 species of filamentous gram-positive bacilli that may cause disease in immunocompromised or immunocompetent hosts. Presentations may include pulmonary, 4, cutaneous, or disseminated infections. Tissue diagnosis may be required as it may mimic alternative etiologies.

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Reactivation infections in hematopoietic stem cell transplants are mitigated by prophylactic regimens. Despite high rates of exposure, morbidity and mortality secondary to toxoplasmosis are limited to subsets of patients such as immunocompromised persons. We describe the first case of disseminated toxoplasmosis in a double umbilical cord blood transplant recipient.

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Data is limited on the immunogenicity of the COVID-19 two-vaccination series among patients with hematologic malignancies and current guidelines do not recommend routine monitoring for post-vaccine antibodies. However, we describe three patients who developed severe or critical COVID-19 infections six months after vaccination. This highlights the importance of routine testing of COVID-19 IgG Spike, semi-quantitative antibodies post-vaccination, particularly among immunocompromised patients.

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Objectives: Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus infections impact mortality in oncology patients. Given the low rate of vancomycin-resistant enterococcus bacteremia, low virulence of vancomycin-resistant enterococcus, and advent of rapid diagnostic systems, vancomycin-resistant enterococcus-directed empiric therapy in vancomycin-resistant enterococcus-colonized patients with neutropenic fever may be unnecessary, promoting increased antimicrobial resistance, drug-related toxicity, and cost.

Methods: Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus-colonized adults admitted for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or induction therapy for acute leukemia/myeloid sarcoma with neutropenic fever were stratified by vancomycin-resistant enterococcus bacteremia development and empiric vancomycin-resistant enterococcus-directed antimicrobial strategy for first neutropenic fever (Empiric Therapy vs.

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A risk mitigation strategy was implemented to determine if a higher prophylactic voriconazole dosage in patients with CYP2C19 rapid metabolizer neutropenic acute myeloid leukemia (AML) reduces the incidence of subtherapeutic trough concentrations. Patients with AML (n = 263) were preemptively genotyped for CYP2C19*2, *3, and *17 alleles as part of a single-center prospective, interventional, quality improvement study. CYP2C19 rapid metabolizers (CYP2C19*1/*17) were recommended to receive interventional voriconazole 300 mg twice daily, ultrarapid metabolizers (CYP2C19*17/*17) were recommended to avoid voriconazole, and all others received the standard prophylactic dosage of 200 mg twice daily.

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Background: Antimicrobial stewardship in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) recipients remains underutilized in North America. European guidelines advise de-escalation of broad-spectrum therapy after 72 hours in select patients with neutropenic fever of unknown origin. This is not commonplace in the United States, as current guidelines recommend broad-spectrum therapy until neutrophil engraftment.

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Background: The definition of fever is flexible and depends on the clinical context. Fever is frequently observed in patients with cancer.

Methods: Infectious and noninfectious causes of fever in patients with various oncological and hematological malignancies and the usefulness of biomarkers are discussed.

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Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the most frequent cause of nosocomial diarrhoea in adults. Cancer patients, in particular, are at a higher risk for CDI. Limited clinical data exist regarding the use of tigecycline for the treatment of CDI, especially in patients with oncologic and haematologic malignancies.

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Nontuberculous mycobacterial infections can often occur in individuals with adequate immune function. Such infections typically have cutaneous involvement and are caused by rapidly growing mycobacterium. Other nontuberculous mycobacteria species, like Mycobacterium haemophilum, almost always present as opportunistic infections occurring in severely immunocompromised hosts.

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Immunotherapy has become a mainstay in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) inhibitors and programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors, which have been added more recently, represent two of the main classes of immunomodulating agents. PD-1 inhibitors are well tolerated and are known to have a decreased rate of occurrence of adverse effects compared with CTLA-4 inhibitors.

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Background: Nocardia species are ubiquitous environmental organisms that can cause a diverse spectrum of disease. Clinical manifestations range from localized skin and soft tissue infections to life-threatening pulmonary, central nervous system, and/or disseminated infections. Patients with hematologic malignancies undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are at risk for nocardiosis, and further data in regard to characteristics of disease in this population are warranted.

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Case: We describe a second case of fluconazole associated agranulocytosis with thrombocytopenia and recovery upon discontinuation of therapy. The patient began to have changes in white blood cells and platelets within 48 h of administration of fluconazole and began to recover with 48 h of discontinuation. This case highlights that drug-induced blood dyscrasias can occur unexpectedly as a result of treatment with a commonly used drug thought to be "safe".

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It is well established that the immunological response to the seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine is attenuated in cancer patients. Furthermore, rates of seroprotection and seroconversion vary by malignancy type and are higher in patients with solid tumors, as compared either with those with hematologic malignancies or with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell recipients. In 2009, a novel influenza strain prompted development of new vaccines and evaluation of alternative dosing strategies in an attempt to increase the rates of seroconversion in immunocompromised patients, further complicating this issue.

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Dermatologic toxicity is a known reaction of ipilimumab and vemurafenib. Because of the lack of effective treatments and aggressive nature of melanoma, treatments are often discontinued and new treatments are initiated in rapid succession. We report what we believe to be the first case of cumulative dermatologic toxicity secondary to rapid-sequential treatment with ipilimumab and vemurafenib for metastatic melanoma that responded to high-dose steroids.

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A 75-year-old woman with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia came to the emergency department with generalized and upper-extremity weakness; she had experienced a fall 2 months earlier. On admission, her drug therapy included lovastatin 40 mg/day, controlled-release diltiazem 240 mg/day, and glimepiride 1 mg/day. Nineteen days earlier, sitagliptin 100 mg/day had been started; it was discontinued 2 weeks later, and glimepiride was begun.

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