Impact of previous invasive pulmonary aspergillosis on the outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Background: Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is one of the major complications encountered by patients receiving chemotherapy for hematologic malignancies. The prolonged period of intense immunosuppression following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) may increase the risk of IPA recurrence in patients with a history of IPA. We evaluated the impact of a history of IPA on allogeneic HSCT outcome, and examined the incidence of IPA after HSCT.

Methods: This retrospective study included 22 patients with a history of IPA prior to receiving allogeneic HSCT at the Samsung Medical Center from 1995 to 2007. Diagnosis of IPA was defined as proven (N=5), probable (N=0), or possible (N=17).

Results: All 22 patients received amphotericin-based regimens to treat pre-transplant IPA. Secondary antifungal prophylaxis was administered to 10 patients during HSCT. The development of post-transplant IPA was observed in 2 patients. One of the patients died from septic shock within 2 days of the diagnosis of possible IPA. The other patient recovered from IPA, but eventually had a relapse of the primary disease. Of the 22 patients, the overall 2-year survival rate was 63% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 41-85), and the transplant-related mortality rate was 19% (95% CI: 0-38).

Conclusion: Our results suggest that a history of IPA prior to HSCT does not have an adverse impact on transplant outcomes, although the small number of cases was a limitation in this study. Future studies involving a larger number of cases are needed to further examine this issue.