Fatal Disseminated Infection by Trichosporon asahii Under Voriconazole Therapy in a Patient with Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Review of Breakthrough Infections by Trichosporon spp.

INTRODUCTION

Cases of invasive Trichosporon infections have increasingly emerged; it is now the second leading cause of yeast bloodstream infections after Candida spp., particularly in the immunosuppressed population, where it often causes breakthrough fungemia with high mortality.

METHODS

We present a case report of a breakthrough Trichosporon asahii infection in a patient with acute myeloid leukemia and review all of the cases of breakthrough Trichosporon spp. infections published in the literature to date.

RESULTS

We extracted 68 cases of breakthrough Trichosporon spp. infections, wherein 95.5% patients had hematological malignancy, 61.8% of them occurred in the presence of echinocandins, 22% of triazoles, 13.2% of amphotericin and 3% of other combinations of antifungals. The most prevalent manifestation was fungemia (94%); 82.8% of these were associated with the presence of a central venous catheter. The overall mortality was 68.7%; the patients who survived recovered from the neutropenic event.

CONCLUSIONS

Invasive trichosporonosis is an acute fatal condition that occurs in immunosuppressed patients, usually under antifungal selective pressure. Typically, neutropenia and its underlying diseases are associated with adverse outcomes.