Antifungal Prophilaxis with Low Dose Amphotericin B Lipid Complex In Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia: A Single Centre Experience

Invasive fungal infections (IFI) represent an important cause of mortality and morbidity in patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) undergoing intensive chemotherapy. A prophylactic antifungal therapy is often administered during intensive chemotherapy, however the optimal antifungal prophylaxis protocol is still unknown. Amphotericin B lipid complex (Abelcet®) has been commonly used as a standard treatment for IFIs caused by Aspergillus and Candida, but its effectiveness in prophilaxis has not been clearly estabilished.

From September 2010 to April 2011 we treated six patients with newly diagnosed AML using low dose amphotericin B lipid complex as antifungal prophilaxis. Patients observed were three females and 3 males, median age was 54 years (range 21–74 years) and they were all fit to receive intensive chemotherapy. Three patients older than 60 years received Fludarabine based chemotherapy regimen during both induction and consolidation. Three patients aged less than 60 years old were treated using a chemotherapy protocol based on Citarabine, Daunorubicin and Ethoposide association. One patient in this group also underwent BuCy conditioned autologous stem cell transplant. Amphotericin B lipid complex was administered intravenously at 100 mg once a day. Antifungal prophilaxis was started when the absolute neutrophil count was ≤ 500 cells/μ l and was continued until neutrophils recovery was ≥ 500 cells/μ l, without any evidence of IFI.

Five patients did not experience any proven fungal infection during all treatment. Anyway one patient died during induction due to a severe bacterial lung infection. One patients discontinued antifungal prophylaxis due to extensive skin rash during the second infusion of the drug. Amphotericin B lipid complex was otherwise well tolerated by patients. One patient was diagnosed with lung aspergillosis infection by evidence of galattomannan positivity on BAL and a lung CT scan showing a single nodular escavated lesion on left upper lobe; subsequentely he was successfully treated with voriconazole.

In our experience, Amphotericin B lipid complex showed to be an effective and safe antifungal prophylaxis for newly diagnosed AML patients. Further clinical studies are certainly required to obtain definitive data.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.