Hsu DI, Nguyen M, Nguyen L et al. J Antimicrob Chemother 2010;65:1765–70.
In this retrospective study of patients with invasive candidiasis, the authors evaluated the effect of early versus delayed initiation of caspofungin on patient outcomes. Although mortality rates were similar with the two strategies, early therapy was associated with a higher response rate, a shorter mean length of hospital stay after pathogen isolation, and a shorter mean time to achieving clinical stability.
The rise in the incidence of invasive candidiasis (IC) caused by potentially fluconazole-resistant non-albicansCandida spp. has prompted an increase in the use of echinocandins for empirical therapy. The present authors aimed to determine whether the timing of caspofungin administration correlates with patient outcomes in the setting of IC.