Treatment of scedosporiosis with voriconazole: Clinical experience with 107 patients

The efficacy of voriconazole in 107 patients with scedosporiosis was analyzed. Principal infection sites were the lungs/sinuses (24%), central nervous system (CNS) (20%), and bone (18%), while 21% of patients had disseminated infection. Solid organ transplantation (22%), hematological malignancy (21%), and surgery/ trauma (15%) were the predominant underlying conditions. A successful therapeutic response was achieved in 57% of patients (median, 103 therapy days), with >98% of those responding receiving >= 28 days of therapy. Patients receiving primary therapy showed a 61% response versus 56% for the others. The best therapeutic responses were seen for skin/subcutaneous (91%) or bone (79%) infections, and the lowest for CNS infections (43%). Patients without major immune suppression (72%) or those with solid organ transplantation (63%) or various hematological conditions (60%) showed the best responses by underlying condition. Median known survival time was 133 days (therapy successes, 252 days; failures, 21 days). In all, 43 (40%) patients died, 73% due to scedosporiosis. Patients with Scedosporium prolificans infection had significantly reduced survival times (P = 0.0259) and were more likely to die from fungal infection (P = 0.002) than were Scedosporium apiospermum-infected patients. In a subset of 43 patients where voriconazole baseline MICs were available, response to voriconazole was higher for S. apiospermum-infected patients (54% response; MIC50, 0.25 mu g/ml) than for S. prolificans-infected patients (40% response; MIC50, 4.0 mu g/ml). Voriconazole demonstrated clinically useful activity in the treatment of both S. apiospermum and S. prolificans infections and was well tolerated.