Twenty-nine cases of invasive aspergillosis in neutropenic patients

Invasive aspergillosis is a life-threatening infectious complication in hematological patients undergoing immunosuppressive chemotherapy.

We report 29 cases of invasive aspergillosis diagnosed in the Sousse Farhat Hached hospital Hematology unit, Tunisia, between 2002 and 2010.

The most frequent disease (65.5%) was acute myeloid leukemia. All patients were severely neutropenic (<500/mm(3), mean duration=27 days). Pulmonary invasive aspergillosis was suggested in 28 (96.5%) cases. The most frequent respiratory signs were cough (64.3%), chest pain (53.6%), and hemoptysis (50%). The chest X-ray showed suggestive lesions in 60.7% of cases. CT scans revealed nodules with cavitation in 65% of cases, a halo sign in 20% of cases, and nodules in 15% of cases. Galactomannan antigenemia was positive in 88%, mycological examination positive in 51.6%, and seroconversion was noted in 35.7% of the cases. Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis was classified, according to EORTC/MSG criteria, as probable in 26 cases, possible in one case, and proven in one case. Aspergillus flavus was the dominant species in pulmonary invasive aspergillosis accounting for 73.7% of isolates. Extrapulmonary involvement was suggested in 39.3% of cases, the most frequent were sinusitis and brain abscess. Primary cutaneous aspergillosis was observed in one case. The overall mortality rate was 64.2%; the 12-week survival rate was 71.4%.

Our results are correlated to published data. A. flavus was the most frequent species in our region.