Candida in the ICU

Abstract

Invasive Candida infections are becoming increasingly recognized in critically ill patients. These infections result in serious morbidity, can be life threatening, and are expensive to manage. Early suspicion of Candida infection and the use of timely and proper antifungal treatment can improve outcome. Although treatment of documented, deep-seated Candida infections in nonneutropenic patients has been studied extensively, guidelines for the management of suspected but undocumented cases of invasive Candida infections in critically ill patients have not been clearly established. Future work should focus on better delineation of the sector of critically ill patients who have suspected invasive Candida infection and who could benefit from the use of empiric antifungal therapy, and on the investigation of novel approaches for the potential salvage of devices infected with Candida species.