Introduction: Advances in medical therapy have greatly improved the survival of children suffering from cancer. Although progress has been made in the eradication of malignant disease there is growing concern for the development of fungal infections in patients treated with chemotherapy.
Materials and methods: We reviewed all episodes of pediatric candidemia that occurred between January 1988 and December 2000. We analyzed the general characteristics of this population, risk factors, microbiology features, treatment, complications, and outcome.
Results: Seventeen cases of candidemia were observed during the 12 years of the study at an estimated incidence of 0.4%. Neutropenia occurred at the onset of infection in 13/17 (76.5%) children. A central venous device was present in all cases. Seventy-seven percent of the infections were caused by Candida albicans and in 85% of patients, yeasts had colonized the gastrointestinal tract. In 9/17 patients visceral dissemination was documented. Overall, in 77% of the episodes the outcome was favorable.
Conclusions: Candidemia is a rare but severe complication in pediatric oncology. Even if the prognosis is better in children than in adults, Candida septicemia remains of great concern since a high percentage of these infections result in visceral dissemination and mortality is still elevated.
Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.