Voriconazole prophylaxis in leukemic patients: A retrospective single-center study

Invasive fungal infections commonly occur in acute myeloid and lymphoblastic leukemia patients receiving chemotherapy. In these patients with acute leukemia, posaconazole prophylaxis is recommended; however, voriconazole may be a less costly alternative.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of voriconazole prophylaxis in acute leukemia patients.

A retrospective chart review of inpatients at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre between 2005 and 2017 was completed. Hospitalized adult acute leukemia patients who received voriconazole prophylaxis (cases) were compared to patients who received fluconazole or no prophylaxis during chemotherapy (controls). Statistical analyses comparing baseline characteristics, safety, and efficacy outcomes between the study cohorts were completed. A posaconazole literature-based weighted mean risk was compared to the voriconazole risk of invasive fungal infection identified in this study.

Of 490 acute myeloid leukemia or acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients, 83 controls and 92 cases were eligible. Case patients received an average of 24.4 ± 10.8 days of voriconazole prophylaxis. The incidence of proven or probable invasive fungal infections with voriconazole was 3.3% (3/92) versus 7.2% (6/83) in the control cohort (p > 0.05) and was comparable to the literature reported weighted incidence of invasive fungal infection with posaconazole (2.4 ± 2.1%; 95% CI 1.3%-3.4%; p > 0.05). Voriconazole was well tolerated by patients (91%; 84/91; seven discontinued due to asymptomatic elevated liver function tests).

Voriconazole prophylaxis was found to be safe, effective, and comparable to literature-based efficacy data for risk of invasive fungal infection with posaconazole antifungal prophylaxis in patients with acute leukemia undergoing chemotherapy and could represent a significant cost advantage.