Bloodstream Infections In Cancer Patients

Bloodstream infections (BI) are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer patients. A retrospective study was performed in two hospitals aimed to evaluate characteristics of BI episodes occurred in adult patients with hematologic (HN) and solid (SN) neoplasia other than non-melanoma skin cancers in the period 2009-2016. A total of 467 episodes of bacteremia and 16 of fungemia were identified. A total of 200 (41.4%) bacteremias occurred in patients with HN and 283 (58.6%) in patients with SN. The most frequent SN and HN were colon cancer (18.7%) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (27%), respectively. The main risk factors for BI were a previous surgical procedure in SN and chemotherapy in the previous 30 days and use of central venous catheter in HN. Infections were mainly acquired in the hospital environment and the most frequent presentation was bacteremia without focus, mostly in HN (38% vs. 20.8%, p < 0.001). Gram negative bacilli (GNB) were isolated in 336 (69.5%) episodes and predominated over Gram positive cocci (GPC) in both groups. Escherichia coli was the most frequent GNB isolated in both SN (24.7%) and HN patients (20.5%). The most frequent GPC was Staphylococcus aureus. Multidrug-resistance was found in 15% of the isolates in SN and 18% in HN. The overall mortality was 40.5% in patients with HN and 37.5% in patients with SN, with the majority of deaths occurring in the first 30 days.