Standard antifungal therapy in neutropenic patients.
Fungal infections are life-threatening complications in patients with prolonged neutropenia. Amphotericin B, which is fungicidal and has a broad spectrum of antifungal activity, remains the current gold standard agent. However, because of its low therapeutic index, new lipid formulations of amphotericin B have been developed with better tolerance and less toxicity. The use of 5-fluorocytosine is waning because of the medullar toxicity of this agent. Fluconazole and itraconazole are both fungistatic and are more convenient for the treatment of fungal infections in haemodynamically stable patients.
Aoun
M
M
Département des Maladies Infectieuses et Laboratoire de Microbiologie, Institut Jules Bordet, rue Héger-Bordet 1, 1000 Brussels, Belgium. nathalie.cardinal@bordet.be
D000666:Amphotericin B / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005334:Fever / Q000150:complications; D005437:Flucytosine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D009181:Mycoses / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000150:complications*
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D000666:Amphotericin B; D005437:Flucytosine