The prevalence of antifungal agents administration in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a retrospective study.

Background: Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are chief infectious complications in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). However, the diagnosis of fungal infections is difficult, and often empiric treatment initiates. Since there is no data available on the prevalence of antifungal drugs administration in allogeneic HSCT recipients in Iran, we decided to conduct this study.

Methods: This study was a retrospective review of records of patients who received allogeneic HSCT in the Hematology-Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplantation center at Shariati Hospital in Tehran, between August 2009 and August 2010.

Results: Sixty (73.1%) patients consist of 41 men (68.3%) with mean age of 26.3 (± 1.2) years received allogeneic HSCT. Patients received prophylaxis with fulconazole however; in 28 patients (46.7%) it was switched to low dose amphotericin B. Fifteen patients (25%) received treatment with antifungal agents. Amphotericin B was the empiric agent administered. In 3 patients treatment was switched to voriconazole. Neither positive culture nor direct microscopic evidence was available from the obtained specimen. Only in one patient the result of serum galactomannan assay was positive. There were no significant differences in neutropenia duration (P value: 0.54), length of hospital stay (P value: 0.27) and number of patients developed graft versus host disease (P value: 0.07) between patients received antifungal agents with those who did not receive treatment.

Conclusion: In this study HSCT recipients received antifungal agents for prophylaxis. Twenty five percent of patients received treatment with antifungal agents empirically. Improvement in diagnosis of these infections can be helpful and lead to targeted therapy. We suggest larger prospective trials for better assessment of antifungal agent administration.