Background: Mucormycosis is an invasive fungal disease severely complicating treatment of patients with hematologic diseases. Effective therapy is represented by the combination of surgery and amphotericin B administration and early initiation of the therapy is necessary for favorable outcome. The first clinical symptoms are usually non-specific and this can lead to late therapy onset. The objective of this retrospective work was to determine the frequency, risk factors and outcome of invasive mucormycosis in pediatric hematology patients.
Material and methods: The study cohort comprised 399 patients diagnosed with hematologic diseases in the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (DPHO), University Hospital Motol, Prague between 2005 and 2010. Risk factors for the development of mucormycosis, clinical symptoms and radiology and laboratory results were retrospectively evaluated. So were the therapy used and outcomes. The findings were analyzed using Fisher's exact test.
Results: During the selected period, mucormycosis was detected in 8 patients diagnosed with hematologic disease. The incidence of mucormycosis was 1.75 %. These conditions accounted for 20.6 % of all mycoses. In five patients, it was found as isolated infection; three cases were associated with other mycoses (one with candidiasis, two with aspergillosis). The most frequent underlying disease was acute leukemia; the most common risk factor was severe prolonged neutropenia (median duration 21.5 days). Three of eight patients survived mucormycosis, a mortality rate of 62.5 %. The effective therapy was amphotericin B administration in three patients (p = 0.02); in two of them, it was combined with radical surgery.
Conclusion: In the cohort, the proportion of mucormycosis cases was surprisingly high when compared with other fungal diseases. Continuous surveillance of mucormycosis in the DPHO is needed. There was no significant influence of the combination of radical surgery and amphotericin B administration as compared to administration of amphotericin B alone. Nevertheless, according to the published data, we consider this approach as an optimal strategy for the management of mucormycosis at the present time.