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Caroselli C, Suardi LR, Besola L, Fiocco A, Colli A, Falcone M. Native-Valve Aspergillus Endocarditis: Case Report and Literature Review. Antibiotics (Basel) 2023; 12:1190. [PMID: 37508286 PMCID: PMC10376027 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics12071190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Revised: 07/08/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Aspergillus endocarditis represents the second etiological cause of prosthetic endocarditis following Candida spp. On the other hand, native-valve endocarditis due to Aspergillus are anecdotally reported with increasing numbers in the last decade due to new diagnostic technologies such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on samples like valve tissue or entire blood. We performed a review of the literature presenting one case report observed at Pisa University Hospital. Seventy-four case reports have been included in a period between 1950-2022. Immunocompromised status (patients with solid tumor/oncohematological cancer or transplanted patients) was confirmed to be the main risk factor for this rare opportunistic infection with a high rate of metastatic infection (above all, central nervous system) and mortality. Diagnosis relies on serum galactomannan and culture with PCR on valve tissue or whole blood. Cardiac surgery was revealed to be a life-saving priority as well as appropriate antifungal therapy including b-liposomal amphotericin or new triazoles (isavuconazole). The endocarditis team, facing negative blood culture endocarditis affecting an immunocompromised patient, should investigate this difficult-to-treat pathogen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudio Caroselli
- Infectious Diseases Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Roberto Suardi
- Infectious Diseases Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Laura Besola
- Cardiac Surgery Unit, Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Care, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Pisana, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Alessandro Fiocco
- Cardiac Surgery Unit, Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Care, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Pisana, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Andrea Colli
- Cardiac Surgery Unit, Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Care, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Pisana, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
| | - Marco Falcone
- Infectious Diseases Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
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Andrés-Jensen L, Attarbaschi A, Bardi E, Barzilai-Birenboim S, Bhojwani D, Hagleitner MM, Halsey C, Harila-Saari A, van Litsenburg RRL, Hudson MM, Jeha S, Kato M, Kremer L, Mlynarski W, Möricke A, Pieters R, Piette C, Raetz E, Ronceray L, Toro C, Grazia Valsecchi M, Vrooman LM, Weinreb S, Winick N, Schmiegelow K. Severe toxicity free survival: physician-derived definitions of unacceptable long-term toxicities following acute lymphocytic leukaemia. LANCET HAEMATOLOGY 2021; 8:e513-e523. [PMID: 34171282 DOI: 10.1016/s2352-3026(21)00136-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2021] [Revised: 04/24/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
5-year overall survival rates have surpassed 90% for childhood acute lymphocytic leukaemia, but survivors are at risk for permanent health sequelae. Although event-free survival appropriately represents the outcome for cancers with poor overall survival, this metric is inadequate when cure rates are high but challenged by serious, persistent complications. Accordingly, a group of experts in paediatric haematology-oncology, representative of 17 international acute lymphocytic leukaemia study groups, launched an initiative to construct a measure, designated severe toxicity-free survival (STFS), to quantify the occurrence of physician-prioritised toxicities to be integrated with standard cancer outcome reporting. Five generic inclusion criteria (not present before cancer diagnosis, symptomatic, objectifiable, of unacceptable severity, permanent, or requiring unacceptable treatments) were used to assess 855 health conditions, which resulted in inclusion of 21 severe toxicities. Consensus definitions were reached through a modified Delphi process supplemented by two additional plenary meetings. The 21 severe toxicities include severe adverse health conditions that substantially affect activities of daily living and are refractory to therapy (eg, refractory seizures), are without therapeutic options (eg, blindness), or require substantially invasive treatment (eg, cardiac transplantation). Incorporation of STFS assessment into clinical trials has the potential to improve and diversify treatment strategies, focusing not only on traditional outcome events and overall survival but also the frequencies of the most severe toxicities. The two major aims of this Review were to: prioritise and define unacceptable long-term toxicity for patients with childhood acute lymphocytic leukaemia, and define how these toxicities should be combined into a composite quantity to be integrated with other reported outcomes. Although STFS quantifies the clinically unacceptable health tradeoff for cure using childhood acute lymphocytic leukaemia as a model disease, the prioritised severe toxicities are based on generic considerations of relevance to any other cancer diagnosis and age group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liv Andrés-Jensen
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Andishe Attarbaschi
- Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, St Anna Children's Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Edit Bardi
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Pediatric Oncology and Immunology, Kepler University Clinic, Linz, Austria
| | - Shlomit Barzilai-Birenboim
- Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Petah Tikva, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Deepa Bhojwani
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | - Christina Halsey
- Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre, Institute of Cancer Sciences, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK; Children's Haemato-Oncology Unit, Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, UK
| | - Arja Harila-Saari
- Women's and Children's Health, Akademiska Sjukhuset, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Melissa M Hudson
- Department of Oncology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Sima Jeha
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Motohiro Kato
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Leontien Kremer
- Princess Maxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Wojciech Mlynarski
- Department of Pediatrics, Oncology & Hematology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
| | - Anja Möricke
- Department of Pediatrics, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Rob Pieters
- Princess Maxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Caroline Piette
- Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital Liège and University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Elizabeth Raetz
- Department of Pediatrics, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Leila Ronceray
- Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, St Anna Children's Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Claudia Toro
- Royal Children's Hospital, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Maria Grazia Valsecchi
- Bicocca Center of Bioinformatics, Biostatistics and Bioimaging, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano Bicocca, Monza, Italy
| | - Lynda M Vrooman
- Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sigal Weinreb
- Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Naomi Winick
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Kjeld Schmiegelow
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark; Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Lennard K, Bannan A, Grant P, Post J. Potential benefit of combination antifungal therapy in Aspergillus endocarditis. BMJ Case Rep 2020; 13:13/6/e234008. [PMID: 32532907 DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2019-234008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Aspergillus endocarditis (AE) is a rare condition with a mortality rate greater than 60%. While it is generally accepted that both antifungal therapy and surgery are necessary for survival, the optimal antifungal regimen is unclear. A 62-year-old man was diagnosed with AE of a prosthetic aortic valve, complicated by cerebral emboli. He underwent debridement of the aortic valve abscess and valve replacement, and was managed with a combination of liposomal amphotericin B and voriconazole for 7 weeks followed by long-term suppressive azole therapy. He remained well at follow-up 18 months later. Data from a review of case reports published between 1950 and 2010 revealed greater survival rates in patients managed with two or more antifungals as opposed to single agent therapy. We provide an updated literature review with similar findings, suggesting that dual agent antifungal therapy should be considered in patients with AE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kate Lennard
- Infectious Diseases, Prince of Wales Hospital and Community Health Services, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Aiveen Bannan
- Infectious Diseases, Port Macquarie Base Hospital, Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Peter Grant
- Cardiothoracic Surgery, Prince of Wales Hospital and Community Health Services, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jeffrey Post
- Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Wales Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia .,Infectious Diseases, Prince of Wales Hospital and Community Health Services, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
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Abstract
BACKGROUND The aims of this article were to review the published literature on fungal endocarditis in children and to discuss the aetiology and diagnosis, with emphasis on non-invasive methods and various treatment regimes. METHODS We systematically reviewed published cases and case series of fungal endocarditis in children. We searched the literature, including PubMed and individual references for publications of original articles, single cases, or case series of paediatric fungal endocarditis, with the following keywords: "fungal endocarditis", "neonates", "infants", "child", and "cardiac vegetation". RESULTS There have been 192 documented cases of fungal endocarditis in paediatrics. The highest number of cases was reported in infants (93/192, 48%) including 60 in neonates. Of the neonatal cases, 57 were premature with a median gestational age of 27 weeks and median birth weight of 860 g. Overall, 120 yeast - fungus that grows as a single cell - infections and 43 mould - fungus that grows in multicellular filaments, hyphae - infections were reported. With increasing age, there was an increased infection rate with moulds. All the yeast infections were detected by blood culture. In cases with mould infection, diagnosis was mainly established by culture or histology of emboli or infected valves after invasive surgical procedures. There have been a few recent cases of successful early diagnosis by non-invasive methods such as blood polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for moulds. The overall mortality for paediatric fungal endocarditis was 56.25%. The most important cause of death was cardiac complications due to heart failure. Among the various treatment regimens used, none of them was significantly associated with better outcome. CONCLUSIONS Non-invasive methods such as PCR tests can be used to improve the chances of detecting and identifying the aetiological agent in a timely manner. Delays in the diagnosis of these infections may result in high mortality and morbidity. No significant difference was noted between combined surgical and medical therapy over exclusively combined medical therapy.
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