[Mycoses and their treatment in malignant hemopathies]

In the last 50 years, the incidence of invasive fungal infections in patients with hematologic malignancies, particularly acute leukemias, has increased from 3 to 30%. Changing epidemiology and the limited advances in the non invasive diagnostic tools contributed to increase the difficulties in the clinical and therapeutic approach. Not only the incidence of invasive mycoses has increased, but they are frequently occurring also in the early phases of the hematologic disease and new fungal pathogens are emerging. In the last years, important progresses have been obtained in the treatment of invasive fungal infections thanks to the use of new antifungal agents and to the new employ of old antifungal drugs. However, considering that the prognosis of these severe complications is related to the early antifungal treatment, the improvement of the diagnostic procedures seems to importantly contribute to the therapeutic progresses.