Infections are important causes of morbidity and mortality in recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Recently, resistance of bacterial and mycobacterial organisms to antimicrobial therapy has been increasingly recognized. Antimicrobial drug resistance not only decreases the chances of successful therapy but also increases mortality rates in these severely immunocompromised patients. Unfortunately, the increase in drug resistance is not paralleled by a proportionate increase in the manufacture of new potent antimicrobial agents to appropriately treat these serious infectious complications. On the other hand, real progress has recently been made in the field of diagnostics and hopefully this will ultimately be translated into more targeted therapies. Furthermore, the literature on this topic is rather rich, but most of the topics or articles focus on one issue and look at this vital complication of stem cell therapy from one angle.
Together with other experienced scientists in the field, we selected to focus on this topic and tackle it in a rather comprehensive way. We will try to look at this issue from different angles and we will tackle as many inter-related issues as possible in order to have a rather comprehensive management approach to these life threatening infections. The topic will provide recent updates on a variety of bacterial and mycobacterial infectious complications in recipients of various forms of HSCT. It will be composed of the following sections: (1) bacterial infections and bacteremia caused by gram-positive and gram-negative organisms in addition to multi-drug resistant organisms e.g. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Acinetobacter baumannii, (2) septicemia and septic shock in recipients of various forms of HSCT, (3) infections caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non-tuberculous Mycobacteria in recipients of HSCT including their risk factors, clinical manifestations, complications and management with special attention given to multidrug and extensively drug resistant organisms.
The topic will cover other infectious complications of HSCT such as: febrile neutropenia, infections related to central venous catheters, neutropenic colitis, infections related to certain cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents, monoclonal antibodies and specific conditioning therapies administered prior to HSCT. It will also include: antimicrobial prophylaxis in recipients of various types of HSCT; granulocyte transfusions given to recipients of HSCT; non-invasive ventilation and intensive care provided to septic and critically ill HSCT recipients; safety, adverse effects and drug interactions of various antimicrobials given to HSCT patients and finally the recently achieved progress in the diagnostics particularly in: sepsis biomarkers e.g. procalcitonin, interleukin-6 and pro-adrenomodullin; molecular methods e.g. polymerase chain reaction and the use of positron emission tomography in the diagnosis of invasive bacterial and mycobacterial infections.
Infections are important causes of morbidity and mortality in recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Recently, resistance of bacterial and mycobacterial organisms to antimicrobial therapy has been increasingly recognized. Antimicrobial drug resistance not only decreases the chances of successful therapy but also increases mortality rates in these severely immunocompromised patients. Unfortunately, the increase in drug resistance is not paralleled by a proportionate increase in the manufacture of new potent antimicrobial agents to appropriately treat these serious infectious complications. On the other hand, real progress has recently been made in the field of diagnostics and hopefully this will ultimately be translated into more targeted therapies. Furthermore, the literature on this topic is rather rich, but most of the topics or articles focus on one issue and look at this vital complication of stem cell therapy from one angle.
Together with other experienced scientists in the field, we selected to focus on this topic and tackle it in a rather comprehensive way. We will try to look at this issue from different angles and we will tackle as many inter-related issues as possible in order to have a rather comprehensive management approach to these life threatening infections. The topic will provide recent updates on a variety of bacterial and mycobacterial infectious complications in recipients of various forms of HSCT. It will be composed of the following sections: (1) bacterial infections and bacteremia caused by gram-positive and gram-negative organisms in addition to multi-drug resistant organisms e.g. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Acinetobacter baumannii, (2) septicemia and septic shock in recipients of various forms of HSCT, (3) infections caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non-tuberculous Mycobacteria in recipients of HSCT including their risk factors, clinical manifestations, complications and management with special attention given to multidrug and extensively drug resistant organisms.
The topic will cover other infectious complications of HSCT such as: febrile neutropenia, infections related to central venous catheters, neutropenic colitis, infections related to certain cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents, monoclonal antibodies and specific conditioning therapies administered prior to HSCT. It will also include: antimicrobial prophylaxis in recipients of various types of HSCT; granulocyte transfusions given to recipients of HSCT; non-invasive ventilation and intensive care provided to septic and critically ill HSCT recipients; safety, adverse effects and drug interactions of various antimicrobials given to HSCT patients and finally the recently achieved progress in the diagnostics particularly in: sepsis biomarkers e.g. procalcitonin, interleukin-6 and pro-adrenomodullin; molecular methods e.g. polymerase chain reaction and the use of positron emission tomography in the diagnosis of invasive bacterial and mycobacterial infections.