Efficacy and safety of micafungin in febrile neutropenic patients treated for hematological malignancies.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate the efficacy and safety of micafungin (MCFG) in empirical therapy for febrile neutropenic patients for whom antibiotic therapy was not effective for hematological malignancies.


METHODS
Twenty-three hematological patients aged 27-82 years with febrile neutropenia for whom antibiotic therapy was not effective were enrolled in this study and responses to treatment were evaluated.


RESULTS
Treatment success rate was 73.9%. Treatment success rates by primary diagnosis were 77.8% in patients with AML, 50.0% in patients with NHL and 87.5% in patients with other diseases. Moreover, MCFG at a dose of 100 mg or more have a tendency to be effective. One or more adverse events occurred in five (27.7%) of the patients during the study. All of these adverse events were below grade 2 toxicity.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the number of patients studied was limited, MCFG as a monotherapy seems to be effective and safe as an empirical therapy in patients with febrile neutropenia. However, further investigation using large-scale studies is needed. This study demonstrated the clinical efficacy and safety of MCFG in patients with febrile neutropenia and with hematological malignancies.
Toubai
Tomomi
T
Department of Hematology and Oncology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo. ttoubai@hkg.odn.ne.jp
Tanaka
Junji
J
Ota
Shuichi
S
Shigematsu
Akio
A
Shono
Yusuke
Y
Ibata
Makoto
M
Hashino
Satoshi
S
Kondo
Takeshi
T
Kakinoki
Yasutaka
Y
Masauzi
Nobuo
N
Kasai
Masaharu
M
Iwasaki
Hiroshi
H
Kurosawa
Mitsutoshi
M
Asaka
Masahiro
M
Imamura
Masahiro
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D054714:Echinocandins; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D055666:Lipopeptides; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008099:Liver / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D000077551:Micafungin; D008875:Middle Aged; D009181:Mycoses / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D054714:Echinocandins; D055666:Lipopeptides; D008074:Lipoproteins; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; D000077551:Micafungin