To Determine Whether Galactomannan Test Will Help to Detect Fungal Infections Early and Hence Start Treatment Early

Summary

Chemotherapy lowers the white blood cell count or weakens the immune system for a long time. This puts the patients at a high risk of getting a serious fungal infection of the internal organs or blood. One of these infections is caused by a mold called Aspergillus and can be life threatening. Usually doctors give preventive antifungal therapy to try to lower the risk of this infection. Despite this, patients are still at risk of getting fungal infection. This study is thus designed to test Galactomannan - a component of cell wall of Aspergillus and hence detect and treat fungal infection early.

Timeline

Start

2006-06-01

Primary completion

2007-10-30

Completion

2009-06-30

Publications

• Background Lin SJ, Schranz J, Teutsch SM. Aspergillosis case-fatality rate: systematic review of the literature. Clin Infect Dis. 2001 Feb 1;32(3):358-66. doi: 10.1086/318483. Epub 2001 Jan 26.
• Tan BH, Low JG, Chlebicka NL, Kurup A, Cheah FK, Lin RT, Goh YT, Wong GC. Galactomannan-guided preemptive vs. empirical antifungals in the persistently febrile neutropenic patient: a prospective randomized study. Int J Infect Dis. 2011 May;15(5):e350-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2011.01.011. Epub 2011 Mar 11.

Drugs

Indications