115 patients undergoing allogeneic or autologous bone marrow or
peripheral blood stem cell transplantation were treated empirically or for documented
fungal infection with
liposomal amphotericin-B in doses up to 10mg/kg bodyweight for a duration up to 61 days. The
therapy was excellent tolerated and clinical side effects occurred in only eight patients. The
drug had to be withdrawn in one episode. A significant influence of
liposomal amphotericin-B on laboratory parameters was not observed.
Creatinine increased under
therapy from a median base point of 1,0 (0,2-3,5) mg/dl to the upper normal value of 1,4 (0,4-4,2) mg/dl. Heavy increases of
creatinine as well as of
bilirubin, OT and PT were mostly associated with GvHD or regimen related toxicity. Considering the high-risk state of the patients the overall response rate was favourable with 62,9%. However, despite administration of
liposomal amphotericin-B culture-proven
mycoses were associated with a high morbidity (93,3%). Only one of fourteen patients was cured from Candida lambica septicaemia. We conclude that the antimycotic
therapy with
liposomal amphotericin-B has a low incidence of side effects. This should, considering the high mortality of
fungal infections in BMT recipients, encourage investigators to perform dose escalating studies against the conventional formulation.