Survey of aspergillosis in non-neutropenic patients in Swiss teaching hospitals (original) (raw)
Related papers
Clinical Diagnosis of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis in a Non-Neutropenic Critically Ill Patient
Respiratory Care, 2013
Real life diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in a non neutropenic critically ill patient Introduction : Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis (IPA) is a life threatening fungal infection that predominantly affects severely immunocompromised patients, particulary those with prolonged neutropenia or organ transplantation. 1 Definitions have been developed that facilitate the diagnosis of IPA in immunocompromised patients with cancer or hematologic malignancy. 2 More recently, publications explored IPA in non-immunocompromised patients in intensive care units (ICU). 3,4 In this specific setting, diagnosis of IPA is challenging for several reasons: it is a relatively uncommon condition, clinical presentation may be unspecific and mimick ventilator-associated pneumonia, specific radiological and microbiological findings may be delayed. To highlight the difficulties of IPA diagnosis in the ICU, we present the case of an 82-year-old ICU patient without immunosuppression affected by possible IPA. Case presentation An 82-year-old woman was referred to our intensive care unit (ICU) for septic shock and acute kidney injury due to acute peritonitis. Before the onset of the symptoms, she was in good health without any chronic medication and her past medical history was significant only for hypertension. She was a non-smoker. She underwent surgery and supportive care was initiated with broad spectrum antibiotics, vasopressor support, mechanical ventilation and intravenous hydrocortisone (200mg per day) treatment. Initial evolution was favorable, except RESPIRATORY CARE Paper in Press.
Aspergillosis in the ICU – The new 21st century problem?
Medical Mycology, 2006
Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a serious opportunistic infection mainly affecting seriously immunocompromised patients. The major risk factor is prolonged granulocytopenia. Most literature on the epidemiology and clinical impact of Aspergillus spp. infections concern patients with hematological malignancies, cancer, stem cell transplantation and solid organ transplant patients. However, evidence from recent literature indicates that Aspergillus spp. may cause invasive disease in other categories of patients without apparent immunodeficiency, including patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Clinical diagnosis of IPA in nonimmunocompromised patients is difficult. Standardized diagnostic definitions, developed by the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer/Mycosis Study Group for research purposes in patients with cancer and in recipients of haematopoietic stem cell transplants, are not feasible for patient categories with an intermediate to low probability for acquiring IPA. In routine clinical practice, most Aspergillus isolates from non-sterile body sites do not represent disease. Invasive diagnostic procedures are often not feasible in patients with severe respiratory insufficiency and critical illness. The presence of systemic risk factors, or underlying predisposing lung disease or general debilitation, may enhance the clinical relevance of a positive culture. The finding of an Aspergillus spp. positive respiratory specimen in an ICU patient should not be discarded; preemptive antifungal treatment should be considered, while attempting to substantiate the diagnosis.
Internal and Emergency Medicine, 2021
Blot and colleagues have proposed putative invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (PIPA) definitions for troublesome diagnosis in suspected patients outside the classical criteria of immunosuppression. We retrospectively included in the study all admitted patients with an Aspergillus spp. positive culture within lower airway samples. Overall, Aspergillus spp. positivity in respiratory samples was 0.97 every 1000 hospital admissions (HA): 4.94 and 0.28/1000/HA, respectively, in intensive care units (ICUs) and medical wards (MW). 66.6% fulfilled PIPA criteria, and 33.4% were defined as colonized. 69.2% of PIPA diagnosis occurred in the ICU. Antifungal therapy was appropriate in 88.5% of subjects with PIPA and 37.5% of colonized, confirming the comparison between deads and lives. Patients with PIPA in the ICUs had more frequent COPD, sepsis or septic shock, acute kidney injury (AKI), needed more surgery, mechanical ventilation (MV), vasopressors, hemodialysis, blood or platelets transfusions...
The importance of risk factors for the prediction of patients with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis
Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira
Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a major challenge in the management of immunocompromised patients. Despite all the advances in diagnosis, it remains a problem. The purpose of our study was to investigate the risk factors associated with IPA seen in patients with hematological malignancies. Method: A total of 152 febrile neutropenia (FEN) patients with hematological malignancies aged over 18 years and receiving high-dose chemotherapy or stem cell transplant between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2012 were included in the study. Sixty-five (65) cases with IPA according to the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer and Infectious Diseases Mycoses Study Group criteria were enrolled as the case group, while 87 patients without IPA development during concomitant monitoring were enrolled as the control group. Incidence of IPA was 21.4% (3/14) in patients receiving bone marrow transplant (allogeneic 2, autologous 1) and those cases were also added into the case group. The two groups were compared in terms of demographic, clinical and laboratory findings and risk factors associated with IPA investigated retrospectively. Results: Presence of relapse of primary disease, neutropenia for more than 3 weeks, presence of bacterial infection, and non-administration of antifungal prophylaxis were identified as risk factors associated with IPA. Conclusion: It may be possible to reduce the incidence of the disease by eliminating preventable risk factors. Predicting those risks would, per se, enable early diagnosis and treatment and, thus, the mortality rate of these patients would unquestionably decline.
BMC infectious diseases, 2017
A previous study explored factors discriminating colonization and true infection among non-transplant, non-neutropenic patients with repeated Aspergillus spp. isolation from lower respiratory samples. The present study explored the evolution of patients with Aspergillus colonization in that study to determine the percentage of cases progressing to aspergillosis and time to development. Clinical records were retrospectively reviewed (for each patient from his end date in the past study) and data from all respiratory processes suffered by patients up to April 2015 were recorded. Comparisons of variables were performed between colonized patients that developed aspergillosis and those that did not. A Kaplan-Meier curve was used to describe time to development of aspergillosis in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients for II-IV stages of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) classification. Sixty seven colonized patients were followed, 12 of the...
Critical Care, 2015
Recently, several studies have indicated a high incidence of IA in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. However, few data are available on the epidemiology and outcome of patients with IA in this setting. Methods: An observational study including all patients with a positive Aspergillus culture during ICU stay was performed in 30 ICUs in 8 countries. Cases were classified as proven IA, putative IA or Aspergillus colonization according to recently validated criteria. Demographic, microbiologic and diagnostic data were collected. Outcome was recorded 12 weeks after Aspergillus isolation. Results: A total of 563 patients were included, of whom 266 were colonized (47%), 203 had putative IA (36%) and 94 had proven IA (17%). The lung was the most frequent site of infection (94%), and Aspergillus fumigatus the most commonly isolated species (92%). Patients with IA had higher incidences of cancer and organ transplantation than those with colonization. Compared with other patients, they were more frequently diagnosed with sepsis on ICU admission and more frequently received vasopressors and renal replacement therapy (RRT) during the ICU stay. Mortality was 38% among colonized patients, 67% in those with putative IA and 79% in those with proven IA (P < 0.001). Independent risk factors for death among patients with IA included older age, history of bone marrow transplantation, and mechanical ventilation, RRT and higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score at diagnosis. Conclusions: IA among critically ill patients is associated with high mortality. Patients diagnosed with proven or putative IA had greater severity of illness and more frequently needed organ support than those with Aspergillus spp colonization.