title: Therapy of invasive fungal infections.
abstract: During the past decades, the incidence and severity of invasive fungal infections has been increasing. These events have lead to the development of new antifungal agents, and amphotericin B no longer is the standard therapy for a variety of invasive mycoses. Fluconazole has become the drug of choice for treatment of C. albicans infections in non-neutropenic as well as neutropenic patients. For treatment of cryptococcal meningitis, amphotericin B with flucytosine, followed by fluconazole consolidation therapy is used. For therapy of invasive aspergillosis, the lipid formulations of amphotericin B may be associated with reduced toxicity and allow for larger doses, although the efficacy of each of the formulations still has to be established in randomized trials. Finally, treatment modalities aimed at improving host defense mechanisms, including adjunctive therapy with rG-CSF for disseminated candidiasis and rG-CSF-elicited granulocyte transfusions, are under way.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, University Hospital Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Kullberg
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: de Pauw
mesh_terms: D000666:Amphotericin B / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous; D000075202:Contraindications; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005437:Flucytosine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016469:Fungemia / Q000382:microbiology; D016179:Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D009181:Mycoses / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000139:chemically induced; D014230:Triazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D014230:Triazoles; D016179:Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor; D000666:Amphotericin B; D005437:Flucytosine