title: The prevalence of antifungal agents administration in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a retrospective study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are chief infectious complications in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). However, the diagnosis of fungal infections is difficult, and often empiric treatment initiates. Since there is no data available on the prevalence of antifungal drugs administration in allogeneic HSCT recipients in Iran, we decided to conduct this study.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a retrospective review of records of patients who received allogeneic HSCT in the Hematology-Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplantation center at Shariati Hospital in Tehran, between August 2009 and August 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty (73.1%) patients consist of 41 men (68.3%) with mean age of 26.3 (± 1.2) years received allogeneic HSCT. Patients received prophylaxis with fulconazole however; in 28 patients (46.7%) it was switched to low dose amphotericin B. Fifteen patients (25%) received treatment with antifungal agents. Amphotericin B was the empiric agent administered. In 3 patients treatment was switched to voriconazole. Neither positive culture nor direct microscopic evidence was available from the obtained specimen. Only in one patient the result of serum galactomannan assay was positive. There were no significant differences in neutropenia duration (P value: 0.54), length of hospital stay (P value: 0.27) and number of patients developed graft versus host disease (P value: 0.07) between patients received antifungal agents with those who did not receive treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study HSCT recipients received antifungal agents for prophylaxis. Twenty five percent of patients received treatment with antifungal agents empirically. Improvement in diagnosis of these infections can be helpful and lead to targeted therapy. We suggest larger prospective trials for better assessment of antifungal agent administration.
authors: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Mona
authors: M
authors: Kargar
authors: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Alireza
authors: A
authors: Ahmadvand
authors: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Milad
authors: M
authors: Ahmadvand
authors: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Molouk
authors: M
authors: Hadjibabaie
authors: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Kheirollah
authors: K
authors: Gholami
authors: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Seyed Hamid
authors: SH
authors: Khoee
authors: Research Center for Rational Use of Drugs, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Mohammad Reza
authors: MR
authors: Javadi
authors: Hematology-Oncology and SCT Research Centre, Department of Hematology-Oncology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Ardeshir
authors: A
authors: Ghavamzadeh
keywords: Amphotericin B; Antifungal agents; Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation; Retrospective Studies