Preemptive Antifungal Therapy for Febrile Neutropenic Hematological Malignancy Patients in China

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency, adverse effects, and pharmacoeconomic impact of empirical and preemptive antifungal therapy for febrile neutropenic hematological malignancy patients in China. MATERIAL/METHODS: Patients with febrile neutropenia during hematological malignancy were randomly divided into an empirical group and a preemptive group. The preemptive antifungal treatment was initiated if patient status was confirmed by clinical manifestation, imaging diagnosis, 1-3-β-D glucan(G) testing, and galactomannan (GM) test. The treatment was ended 2 weeks later if the patient was recovered from neutropenia. Voriconazole was used as the first-line medicine. All patients received intravenous administration of voriconazole every 12 h, with an initiating dose of 400 mg, then the dose was reduced to 200 mg. RESULTS: The overall survival rate was 97.1% and 94.6% in the empirical group and preemptive group, respectively, with no significant difference observed (χ(2)=1.051, P=0.305). However, the occurrence rate of invasive fungal disease (IFD) in the preemptive group was 9.2% vs. 2.2% in the empirical group. Moreover, the mortality rate due to IFD was 0.7% and 2.3% for the empirical group and preemptive group, respectively. The average duration and cost of preemptive antifungal therapy were 13.8±4.7 days and 8379.00±2253.00 RMB, respectively, which were lower than for empirical therapy. However, no significant differences were observed for incidence of adverse effects and hospital stay between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Preemptive antifungal therapy for patients with febrile neutropenic hematological malignancy demonstrated a similar survival rate as with empirical therapy but is economically favorable in a Chinese population.