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Posaconazole prophylaxis during induction therapy of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Author(s) -
Illmer Thomas,
Babatz Jana,
Pursche Stefan,
Stölzel Friedrich,
Schuler Ulrich,
Schaich Markus,
Ehninger Gerhard
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
mycoses
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.13
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1439-0507
pISSN - 0933-7407
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0507.2010.01860.x
Subject(s) - posaconazole , medicine , aspergillosis , tolerability , neutropenia , pharmacology , voriconazole , toxicity , immunology , adverse effect , antifungal , dermatology
Summary Novel treatment schedules of induction therapy for acute lympoblastic leukaemia (ALL) use combinations of immunosuppressive and cytotoxic drugs that are associated with neutropenia and acquisition of invasive fungal infections. It has been described that posaconazole, a triazole antifungal drug, is active against a variety of Candida and Aspergillus species in vitro . Moreover, large clinical trials using posaconazole in severely immunosuppressed patients provided data on efficacy against Aspergillus in vivo . As patients with ALL are also affected by difficult‐to‐treat Aspergillus infections, we conducted a pilot study to prove the safety of posaconazole in patients undergoing intensified induction phase treatment. We report on eight patients receiving prophylactic (200 mg t.i.d.) dose of posaconazole and demonstrate good tolerability of the drug. The most obvious side effect was liver toxicity as defined by abnormal serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and bilirubin levels (