Bendamustine and pneumocystis pneumonia: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Bendamustine, a bifunctional mechlorethamine alkylating agent, is used in the treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies. Myelosuppression and cytotoxic effect arises quite often after bendamustine treatment. To date, there have been no recommendations for routine chemoprophylaxis for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in patients under treatment with this agent. The present systematic review aimed to evaluate the existing data on bendamustine effects on pneumocystis pneumonia. METHOD: English papers were systematically reviewed using Web of Science, Embase, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Cochrane library. There was no time constraint for the paper search. The used keywords included “Pneumonia, Pneumocystis”or “Pneumocystis Pneumonia”or “Pneumocystis jirovecii” and “Bendamustine hydrochloride or Bendamustine. “Through our search, 113 papers were found, 26 of which were chosen following a review of the titles and abstracts; ultimately, 10 were included in the research. RESULT: A total of 10 studies (out of 113 studies) were retrieved. The papers were classified into seven case reports, two clinical trials, and one retrospective analysis study. The case reports included 14 patients diagnosed with PCP after bendamustine administration between 2003 and 2019. The patients' mean age was with a range of 66.8. Non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (including diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma) (n = 9, 60%), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (n = 4, 26.6%), and breast cancer (n = 2, 13.4%) were the most prevalent types of malignancy. Bendamustine, along with rituximab, were the most commonly prescribed chemotherapy regimens during the treatments. Finally, the mortality rate among the patients whose results were reported (n = 9) was 44.44% (n = 4). CONCLUSION: The present review described PCP infection in patients with malignancies after the treatment with bendamustine, a chemotherapeutic agent associated with lymphopenia. Further research is required to determine the PCP risk in patients with bendamustine treatment and identify individuals who may benefit from prophylaxis.