BACKGROUND: Cancer therapy-related infections due to neutropenia is a well known problem in cancer treatment. Leukemia increases the risk furthermore because of its nature of bone marrow involvement. Therefore knowledge of the aspects of infections in neutropenic leukemic patients are important in preventing morbidity and mortality. METHODS: This study was conducted by reviewing clinical records of 69 cases of 49 leukemic patients who had neutropenic fever during 1996~2001. Each case was reviewed and analyzed in terms of clinical status & treatment, laboratory results, origins of fever and pathogens (if origin was infectious), final outcome and prognostic factors. RESULTS: Of 69 cases of 49 leukemic patients with neutropenic fever, mortalilty was 29%. Microbiologically defined infection (MDI) was 45% and clinically defined infection (CDI) was 30.4%, which meant a increase in MDIs compared with the previous study. Major focuses of fever were lung, blood and catheter-related, which were similar to those of 1988~1995. The major pathogens were gram negative bacilli (43.2%), followed by gram positive cocci (29.7%), but the proportion of gram positive pathogens had increased. Age, usage of selective gut decontamination and colony-stimulating factors (CSFs), and the presence of bone marrow recovery were related to prognosis by univariate analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the bone marrow recovery was the only significantly related to patient's outcome, which was the same as the previous study (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Proportions of pathogens in febrile neutropenic patients were similar with the previous study, but gram positive infections are increasing recently. Bone marrow recovery was the only significant prognostic factor in these patients. And, the benefits of selective gut decontamination or CSF usage is still questionable.
Bone Marrow ; Colony-Stimulating Factors ; Decontamination ; Fever* ; Gram-Positive Cocci ; Humans ; Leukemia ; Logistic Models ; Lung ; Mortality ; Neutropenia ; Prognosis

Fusarium spp., basically a superficial pathogen, is a newly emerging fungal pathogen of opportunistic infections in immunocompromised patients. At present, although Fusarium spp. are relatively resistant to amphotericin B, the combination of amphotericin B and surgical debridement appear to be optimal treatment for disseminated infection. Recently we experienced a 32-year-old neutropenic patient after induction chemotherapy for acute myelocytic leukemia presented with skin lesions and infiltrations in both lungs. We diagnosed with disseminated fusariosis by skin culture and successfully treated the patient with liposomal amphotericin B. We emphasize a high index of suspicion for skin lesions especially in immunocopromised patients.
Adult ; Amphotericin B* ; Debridement ; Fusariosis* ; Fusarium* ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Induction Chemotherapy ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; Lung ; Opportunistic Infections ; Skin

Fusarium spp., basically a superficial pathogen, is a newly emerging fungal pathogen of opportunistic infections in immunocompromised patients. At present, although Fusarium spp. are relatively resistant to amphotericin B, the combination of amphotericin B and surgical debridement appear to be optimal treatment for disseminated infection. Recently we experienced a 32-year-old neutropenic patient after induction chemotherapy for acute myelocytic leukemia presented with skin lesions and infiltrations in both lungs. We diagnosed with disseminated fusariosis by skin culture and successfully treated the patient with liposomal amphotericin B. We emphasize a high index of suspicion for skin lesions especially in immunocopromised patients.
Adult ; Amphotericin B* ; Debridement ; Fusariosis* ; Fusarium* ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Induction Chemotherapy ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; Lung ; Opportunistic Infections ; Skin