ABSTRACT
Febrile neutropenia (FN) is a complication of hematologic malignancy therapy. An early diagnosis would allow optimization of antimicrobials. The 18F-FDG-PET-CT may be useful; however, its role is not well established. We analyzed retrospectively patients with hematological malignancies who underwent 18F-FDG-PET-CT as part of FN management in our university hospital and compared with conventional imaging. In addition, we performed a systematic review of the literature assessing the usefulness of 18F-FDG-PET-CT in FN. A total of 24 cases of FN underwent 18F-FDG-PET-CT. In addition, 92% had conventional CT. In 5/24 episodes (21%), the fever was of infectious etiology: two were bacterial, two were fungal, and one was parasitic. When compared with conventional imaging, 18F-FDG-PET-CT had an added value in 20 cases (83%): it diagnosed a new site of infection in 4 patients (17%), excluded infection in 16 (67%), and helped modify antimicrobials in 16 (67%). Antimicrobials could be discontinued in 10 (41.6%). We identified seven publications of low quality and one randomized trial. Our results support those of the literature. The available data suggest that 18F-FDG-PET-CT is useful in the management of FN, especially to diagnose fungal infections and rationalize antimicrobials. This review points out the low level of evidence and indicates the gaps in knowledge.
ABSTRACT
We retrospectively compared the clinical outcomes of adults with acute leukemia who received single-unit umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation (sUCBT) (n = 135) or stem cell transplant using coinfusion of a UCB graft with CD34+ cells from a third-party donor (Haplo-Cord) (n = 72) at different institutions within the Grupo Español de Trasplante Hematopoyético. In multivariable analysis, patients in the Haplo-Cord group showed more rapid neutrophil (hazard ratio [HR], 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-3.3; P < .001) and platelet recovery (HR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.2-2.3; P = .015) and lower incidence of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (relative risk, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.8; P = .01). Nonrelapse mortality, relapse, disease-free survival (DFS), and GVHD/relapse-free survival were similar in the 2 groups. Regarding disease-specific outcomes, DFS in both acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients was not significantly different; however, a significantly higher relapse rate was found in patients with AML treated with Haplo-Cord (HR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1-5.4; P = .04). Our study confirms that Haplo-Cord was an effective strategy to accelerate neutrophil and platelet recovery and shows that, in the context of specific treatment platforms, sUCBT and Haplo-Cord offer similar long-term outcomes.
