Safety and efficacy of non-reduced use of caspofungin in patients with Child-Pugh B or C cirrhosis: a real-world study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The need for dose adjustment of caspofungin in patients with hepatic impairment is controversial, especially for those with Child-Pugh B or C cirrhosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of standard-dose caspofungin administration in Child-Pugh B and C cirrhotic patients in a real-world clinical setting. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The electronic medical records of 258 cirrhotic patients, including 67 Child-Pugh B patients and 191 Child-Pugh C patients, who were treated with standard-dose of caspofungin at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, China, from March 2018 to June 2023 were reviewed retrospectively. The white blood cells (WBC), hepatic, renal and coagulation function results before administration and post administration on days 7, 14 and 21 were collected, and the efficacy was assessed in all patients at the end of caspofungin therapy. RESULTS: Favorable responses were achieved in 137 (53.1%) patients while 34 (13.2%) patients died. We observed that some patients experienced an increase of prothrombin time (PT) or international normalized ratio (INR), or a decrease of WBC, but no exacerbation of hepatic or renal dysfunction were identified and no patient required dose interruption or adjustment because of an adverse drug reaction during treatment with caspofungin. CONCLUSIONS: Standard-dose of caspofungin can be safely and effectively used in patients with Child-Pugh B or C cirrhosis, and we appealed to re-assess the most suitable dosing regimen in this population to avoid a potential subtherapeutic exposure.

[High-sensitivity Cardiac Troponin T in Sepsis:Prognostic Value and Risk Factors of Its Elevation].

Objective To explore the prognostic value of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) in predicting mortality within 28 days among sepsis patients,and to investigate the risk factors of hs-cTnT elevation. Methods The clinical and laboratory data of patients with sepsis or septic shock who were hospitalized at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from December 2017 to September 2021 were collected and retrospectively analyzed.The patients were assigned into a hs-cTnT elevated group (hs-cTnT>0.1 ng/ml) and a hs-cTnT non-elevated group (hs-cTnT≤0.1 ng/ml).The prognosis was compared between the two groups and the risk factors of hs-cTnT elevation were determined. Results A total of 225 patients were included in this study,including 49 in hs-cTnT elevated group (21.8%) and 176 in hs-cTnT non-elevated group (78.2%).The receiver operating characteristic curve showed that maximum hs-cTnT had predictive value for death within 28 days (P<0.001).The maximum hs-cTnT showed the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.767 (95%CI=0.699-0.835),the sensitivity of 62.5%,and the specificity of 79.9%.The mortality within 28 days of hs-cTnT elevated group was higher than that of hs-cTnT non-elevated group (53.1% vs. 17.0%, χ2=26.595, P<0.001).Multivariate Logistic regression analysis revealed that the independent predictors of hs-cTnT elevation were age ≥75.5 years (OR=5.990, 95%CI=2.143-16.742, P=0.001),lactate ≥4.05 mmol/L (OR=4.982,95%CI=1.433-17.315,P=0.012),oxygenation index ≤169.15 mmHg (OR=5.052, 95%CI=1.888-13.514, P=0.001),B-type brain natriuretic peptide precursor ≥6 687.0 pg/ml (OR=5.991, 95%CI=2.226-16.128, P<0.001),fibrinogen ≤2.87 g/L (OR=3.325,95%CI=1.175-9.404, P=0.024),and International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis overt disseminated intravascular coagulation score ≥5.5 (OR=7.631, 95%CI=1.157-50.338, P=0.035). Conclusions hs-cTnT showed good performance in predicting mortality within 28 days among the patients with sepsis.Coagulation disorder,microthrombus formation,and myocardial oxygen supply-demand mismatch may be the risk factors of myocardial injury in sepsis.