Personalized treatment of severe pneumonia in cancer patients

Etiology and Prognosis of Pneumonia in Patients with Solid Tumors: A Prospective Cohort of Hospitalized Cases

BACKGROUND

Data on the incidence, etiology, and prognosis of non-ventilator-associated pneumonia in hospitalized patients with solid tumors are scarce. We aimed to study the characteristics of non-ventilator-associated pneumonia in hospitalized patients with solid tumors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This was a prospective noninterventional cohort study of pneumonia in patients hospitalized in an oncology ward in a tertiary teaching hospital. Pneumonia was defined according to the American Thoracic Society criteria. Patients were followed for 1 month after diagnosis or until discharge. Survivors were compared with nonsurvivors.

RESULTS

A total of 132 episodes of pneumonia were diagnosed over 1 year (9.8% of admissions to the oncology ward). They were health care-related (67.4%) or hospital-acquired pneumonia (31.8%). Lung cancer was the most common malignancy. An etiology was established in 48/132 episodes (36.4%). Knowing the etiology led to changes in antimicrobial therapy in 58.3%. Subsequent intensive care unit admission was required in 10.6% and was linked to inappropriate empirical therapy. Ten-day mortality was 24.2% and was significantly associated with hypoxia (odds ratio [OR], 2.1). Thirty-day mortality was 46.2%. The independent risk factors for 30-day mortality were hypoxia (OR, 3.3), hospital acquisition (OR, 3.1), and a performance status >1 (OR, 2.6). Only 40% of patients who died within 30 days were terminally ill.

CONCLUSION

Pneumonia is a highly prevalent condition in hospitalized patients with solid tumors, even with nonterminal disease. Etiology is diverse, and poor outcome is linked to inappropriate empirical therapy. Efforts to get the empirical therapy right and reach an etiological diagnosis to subsequently de-escalate are warranted.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The present study shows that pneumonia is a prevalent infectious complication in patients admitted to oncology wards, with a very high mortality, even in non-terminally ill patients. Etiology is diverse, and etiological diagnosis is reached in fewer than 40% of cases in nonintubated patients. Intensive care unit admission, a marker of poor outcome, is associated with inappropriate empirical therapy. These results suggest that, to improve prognosis, a more precise and appropriate antimicrobial empirical therapy for pneumonia in patients with solid tumors is necessary, together with an effort to reach an etiological diagnosis to facilitate subsequent de-escalation.

The challenge of avoiding intubation in immunocompromised patients with acute respiratory failure

INTRODUCTION

A growing number of immunocompromised (IC) patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (ARF) is admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) worldwide. Areas covered: This review provides an overview of the current knowledge of the ways to prevent intubation in IC patients with ARF. Expert commentary: Striking differences oppose ARF incidence, characteristics, etiologies and management between IC and non-IC patients. Survival benefits have been reported with early admission to ICU in IC patients. Then, while managing hypoxemia and associated organ dysfunction, the identification of the cause of ARF will be guided by a rigorous clinical assessment at the bedside, further assisted by an invasive or noninvasive diagnostic strategy based on clinical probability for each etiology. Finally, the initial respiratory support aims to avoid mechanical ventilation for the many yet recognizing those patients for whom delaying intubation expose them to suboptimal management. We advocate for not using noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in this setting. A proper evaluation of High-flow nasal cannula oxygen (HFNC)  is required in IC patients as to demonstrate its superiority compared to standard oxygen therapy. Day-to-day decisions must strive to avoid delayed intubation, and make every effort to identify ARF etiology.

The Intensive Care Medicine research agenda on critically ill oncology and hematology patients

Over the coming years, accelerating progress against cancer will be associated with an increased number of patients who require life-sustaining therapies for infectious or toxic chemotherapy-related events. Major changes include increased number of cancer patients admitted to the ICU with full-code status or for time-limited trials, increased survival and quality of life in ICU survivors, changing prognostic factors, early ICU admission for optimal monitoring, and use of noninvasive diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. In this review, experts in the management of critically ill cancer patients highlight recent changes in the use and the results of intensive care in patients with malignancies. They seek to put forward a standard of care for the management of these patients and highlight important updates that are required to care for them. The research agenda they suggest includes important studies to be conducted in the next few years to increase our understanding of organ dysfunction in this population and to improve our ability to appropriately use life-saving therapies or select new therapeutic approaches that are likely to improve outcomes. This review aims to provide more guidance for the daily management of patients with cancer, in whom outcomes are constantly improving, as is our global ability to fight against what is becoming the leading cause of mortality in industrialized and non-industrialized countries.