Deferoxamine therapy and mucormycosis in dialysis patients: report of an international registry

Fifty-nine cases of mucormycosis in dialysis patients have been reported to the registry (25 new cases and 34 previously reported cases). The presenting forms of mucormycosis included disseminated in 44%, rhinocerebral in 31%, and other forms in 25%. The diagnosis was made during life in only 39%, while the diagnosis was discovered at autopsy in 61% of the cases. The fungus, cultured in only 36%, was always Rhizopus. The infection was fatal in 86% of cases. No known risk factors for fungal infections, eg, diabetes mellitus, liver disease, splenectomy, neutropenia, steroid therapy, or other immunosuppressive therapy, were present in 70% of patients, but 78% of patients were being treated with deferoxamine. The role played by this drug and more particularly by its iron chelate, feroxamine, in the pathogenesis of mucormycosis in these patients is underscored. Because of this risk, deferoxamine therapy in dialysis patients should be limited to severe aluminum toxicity, the deferoxamine should be given at the lowest possible dose, and dialytic methods to augment the removal of feroxamine should be studied.