Herbrecht R, Maertens J, Baila L et al.; Infectious Diseases Group of the EORTC. Bone Marrow Transplant 2010;45:1227–33.
The safety and efficacy of standard-dose caspofungin as first-line therapy was evaluated among allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients with proven or probable invasive aspergillosis (IA). Twenty-four patients received caspofungin therapy for up to 12 weeks. At the completion of caspofungin therapy, 10 (42%) patients had a complete or partial response, one (5%) had stable disease, 12 (50%) had progressing disease, and one (5%) was not evaluable. At week 12, 33% of patients had a complete or partial response and the survival rate was 50%. Caspofungin was well tolerated.
Invasive aspergillosis (IA) has been reported to occur in as many as 30% of patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) and is associated with unacceptably high mortality rates [1–3]. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of caspofungin as first-line therapy in the treatment of IA among patients undergoing HSCT.