Candida glabrata oropharyngeal candidiasis in patients receiving radiation treatment for head and neck cancer

Candida glabrata colonization is common in patients receiving radiation treatment for head and neck cancer, but to our knowledge has never been described as the infecting organism with or Oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC). This study presents the first three patients describd with C. glabrata OPC in this patient population. Patient 1 developed C. glabrata OPC and required fluconazole, 800 mg/day, for clinical resolution. Antifungal susceptibility testing revealed a MIC of fluconazole of >64 mug/ml. Elapsed time from initial culturing to treatment decision was 7 days. Patients 2 and 3 developed C. glabrata OPC. They were patients in a study evaluating OPC infections, and cultures were taken immediately. CHROMagar Candida plates with 0, 8, and 16 mug of fluconazole/ml were employed for these cultures. Lavender colonies, consistent with C. glabrata, grew on the 0- and 8-mug plates but not on the 16-mug plate from patient 2 and grew on all three plates from patient 3. Based on these data, a fluconazole dose of 200 mg/day was chosen for patient 2 and it dose of 400 mg/day was chosen for patient 3, with clinical resolution in both. Elapsed time from initial culturing to treatment decision was 2 days. C. glabrata does cause OPC in head and neck radiation treatment patients, and the use of fluconazole-impregnated chromogenic agar may significantly reduce treatment decision time compared to that with conventional culturing and antifungal susceptibility testing.