A Survey of Infection in Allogenic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Background: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a potentially cure for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Patients who undergone HSCT are at increased risk of infection due to impaired immunity. Objective: To evaluate the rate of bacterial, viral and fungal infection and its relationship with 2-year overall survival of AML patients who had undergone HSCT. Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of 49 patients who underwent allogenic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from full-matched donors at BMT Center, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran, Iran, from 2006 to 2013. All autologous transplantations and promyelocytic leukemia (PML) transplantations were excluded. Results: All patients, except for one, had fever for a mean of 7 days post-transplantation and received broad-spectrum antibiotic. The rate of severe sepsis was 6.1%. None of the patients developed fungal infection during admission. The rate of admission due to sepsis after discharge was 27% in the alive group (mean onset of 54 days), and 73% in the deceased group (mean onset of 52 days) (p<0.05). The most common site of infection was lung (70%). The rate of cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigenemia (positive PP65) was 20% during the 2-year period after HSCT. Conclusion: The rate of infection was a negative prognostic factor for 2-year overall survival. The rate of CMV antigenemia is less than similar studies (51%), which could be due to full-matched donor-recipients requiring less immunosuppression.