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. 2015;5(1):1-10.
Epub 2015 Mar 15.

The Prevalence of fungal infections in children with hematologic malignancy in Ali-Asghar Children Hospital between 2005 and 2010

Sh Ansari  1 , E Shirzadi  2 , M Elahi  2
Affiliations

The Prevalence of fungal infections in children with hematologic malignancy in Ali-Asghar Children Hospital between 2005 and 2010

Sh Ansari et al. Iran J Ped Hematol Oncol. 2015.

Abstract

Background: A fungal infection represents a growing problem in children with hematologic malignancies, during chemotherapy induced neutropenia. Fungal colonization is considered a major risk factor for subsequent fungal infections. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate prevalence of fungal infection among children admitted to hospital between 2005 and 2010 in Tehran, Iran.

Materials and methods: 617 hematological patients in the age range of neoteric to 19 years old were enrolled and 87 cases with invasive fungal infections were extracted from patients' files and documented. Diagnosis of fungal infections was based on the local biopsy and pathology for mucormycosis, blood culture, urine culture and clinical examination for candidasis and galactomannan for aspergillus.

Results: the mean age of cancer diagnosis was 6.33 years old and the mean age of fungal infection was 7.95 years old. The majority of the infections was caused by candidia spp (74.7%), followed by aspergillus spp (17.2%) and zygomycetes (11.5%). Among candidiasis patients, oral infection had the highest manifestation (92.3%) whereas in 10 of 15 patients with aspergillus, the infectious site was the lung. There was a significant association between mortality and the type of fungal infection (p <0.0001).

Conclusion: Our finding suggests that there is a high rate of fungal infections in children receiving remission therapy for onco-hematology. These results help improve the management of these patients, however Further studies are needed.

Keywords: Aspergillosis; Candidiasis; Children; Hematologic malignancy; Mucormycosis.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of hematologic cancer among children with fungal infections according to current study (72.5% of patients were afflicted by Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of leukemia among of children according to National Cancer Institute (the most common leukemia is Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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