Premium
Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia in patients with neoplastic disease
Author(s) -
Fishman Louis S.,
Armstrong Donald
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197209)30:3<764::aid-cncr2820300326>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - medicine , bacteremia , cellulitis , sepsis , pseudomonas aeruginosa , antibiotics , pseudomonas infection , disease , surgery , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , genetics , biology
Fifty episodes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia occurring in patients in a cancer hospital have been reviewed. All patients had serious underlying diseases, and most were receiving therapy with immunosuppressive agents, 66%, and/or antibiotics, 82%. Ten per cent of patients developed skin lesions characteristic of Pseudomonas bacteremia. Overall mortality was 78%, and survival was related to the severity of the underlying disease. More than one third of the patients (4/11) responding to therapy during the first episode of Pseudomonas sepsis subsequently died during bacteremia with the same organism. No patient with depressed serum globulin levels survived. Seventy‐two per cent of autopsied cases showed characteristic vascular lesions on histo‐pathology. The appearance of skin lesions (cellulitis, vesicles, blebs, papules with black, necrotic centers) should suggest Pseudomonas sepsis, but cultures should be done in an attempt to isolate a specific etiologic agent.