Clostridium Difficile infections in patients with AML or MDS undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation identify high risk for adverse outcome

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Clostridium difficile (CD) infection is the main cause of nosocomial enterocolitis in western countries and in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHCT). Recipients of alloHCT are at high risk for CD infection but large studies in this population are rare and conflicting results have been reported. We analyzed 727 patients with AML or MDS undergoing alloHCT in our center from 2004 to 2015. Ninety-six patients (13%) had CD infection and 103 patients (14%) were identified as asymptomatic carriers by screening at admission and once a week during aplasia. Patients with CD infection had a shorter median overall survival of 8 months (95% CI, 6-36 months) compared with 25 months (95% CI, 17-35 months) for patients without CD infection, (HR 1.4, p = 0.04). CD positive patients were less likely to develop acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD; HR 0.6, p = 0.004) compared with CD-negative patients, but did not show differences in gastrointestinal aGvHD (HR 0.9, p = 0.5). Symptomatic patients developed gastrointestinal aGvHD (HR 2.5, p = 0.02) more often compared with asymptomatic CD positive patients. This analysis demonstrates a high prevalence for CD infection in patients undergoing alloHCT. A significant lower overall survival for patients with CD infection could be demonstrated.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)367-375
Number of pages9
JournalBone marrow transplantation
Volume55
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85073977825

Keywords

Keywords

  • Clostridium Infections/etiology, Graft vs Host Disease/etiology, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/adverse effects, Humans, Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/therapy, Retrospective Studies, Transplantation, Homologous