[Invasive aspergillosis on a surgical intensive care unit]

From 1-1-1995 until 1-3-2000 4777 patients were treated in a surgical intensive care unit. 12 patients (10 male/2 female, mean age 58 years) suffered from invasive aspergillosis. One patient had a purulent descending mediastinitis with evidence of Aspergillus fumigatus in the mediastinum and in both pleural cavities. One patient got a right upper lobectomie in cause of an aspergilloma. In 10 patients a broncho-alveolar aspergillosis was proved by at least two cultures from broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) and biopsies. All our patients had a mean of 12.8 risk factors for systemic mycoses. The patients suffered from following underlying diseases: 3 x carcinoma of the esophagus (chemotherapy + radiation), 2 x ulcerative colitis, 1 x rupture of the aorta with insufficiency of the liver, 1 x acute leucosis and 1 x purulent mediastinitis. The therapy was based on infusion with amphotericin B up to 1.5 mg/kg/day in combination with flucytosine or itraconazole. In 4 patients inhalation of amphotericin B aerosol was applied. After therapeutic failure of amphotericin B-therapy 3 patients got voriconazole according to a study protocol. 10 patients died, 7 of them from their underlying disease.