Invasive Fungal Infections in Immunocompromised Children: Novel Insight Following a National Study.

OBJECTIVE: To obtain a national overview of the epidemiology and management of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) in France for severely immunocompromised children who were treated for acute leukemia or had undergone allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (a-HSCT). STUDY DESIGN: We performed a national multicenter retrospective study to collect epidemiologic data for proven and probable IFIs in children with acute leukemia under first- line or relapse treatment or who had undergone a-HSCT. We also conducted a prospective practice survey to provide a national overview of IFI management in pediatric hematology units. RESULTS: From January 2014 to December 2017, 144 cases of IFI were diagnosed (5.3%) in 2721 patients, including 61 cases of candidiasis, 60 cases of aspergillosis, and 23 cases of infection with "emergent" fungi, including 10 cases of mucormycosis and 6 cases of fusariosis. The IFI rate was higher in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (12.9%) (OR, 3.24; 95% CI, 2.15-4.81; P < .0001) compared with the rest of the cohort. Patients undergoing a-HSCT had an IFI rate of only 4.3%. In these patients, the use of primary antifungal prophylaxis (principally fluconazole) was associated with a lower IFI rate (OR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.14-0.60; P = 4.90 ×10-4) compared with a-HSCT recipients who did not receive antifungal prophylaxis. The main cause of IFI in children receiving prophylaxis was emergent pathogens (41%), such as mucormycosis and fusariosis, which were resistant to the prophylactic agents. CONCLUSIONS: The emerging fungi and new antifungal resistance profiles uncovered in this study should be considered in IFI management in immunocompromised children.

Prospective Evaluation of the First Option, Second-Line Therapy in Childhood Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia: Splenectomy or Immunomodulation.

OBJECTIVE: To describe 4 subgroups of pediatric patients treated with splenectomy, hydroxychloroquine, azathioprine, or rituximab as the first-option, second-line treatment for chronic immune thrombocytopenia. STUDY DESIGN: Selection of patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia from the French national prospective cohort of pediatric autoimmune cytopenia OBS'CEREVANCE and VIGICAIRE study, treated by splenectomy, hydroxychloroquine, azathioprine, or rituximab as a first second-line treatment. RESULTS: For 137 patients, treated between 1989 and 2016, the median follow-up after diagnosis and after treatment initiation was 8.5 (2.8-26.4) years and 4.7 (1.1-25.1) years, respectively. Median age at diagnosis and at initiation of treatment were 9 (0.7; 16) and 12 (2; 18.1) years, respectively without significant difference between subgroups. For the whole cohort, 24-month event-free survival was 62% (95% CI 55; 71). It was 85% (95% CI 77; 95) for the 56 patients treated with splenectomy, 60% (95% CI 44; 84) for the 23 patients treated with rituximab, 46% (95% CI 30; 71) for the 24 patients treated with azathioprine, and 37% (95% CI 24; 59) for the 34 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine (log-rank P < .0001). For the splenectomy subgroup, being older than 10 years at splenectomy tended to improve event-free survival (P = .05). Female teenagers with antinuclear antibody positivity benefited from hydroxychloroquine therapy. CONCLUSIONS: This national study, limiting pitfalls in the analysis of the effects of second-line therapies, showed that splenectomy remains the treatment associated with the better response at 24 months.