Invasive fungal infections in oncology and haematology unit care: review of literature and costs analysis

Invasive fungal infections are an important cause of mortality in oncology and haematology unit care. Immunosuppression allows the occurrence of Candida or Aspergillus infectious disease. Treatment is based on antifungal agents (liposomal amphotericin B, azoles and caspofungin) administrated alone. The lack of study does not yet validate the combination of two drugs which are not recommended in medical practice. The aim of this pharmacoeconomics study is to assess different therapeutic strategies compared to standard treatment. Health care system point of view is used. Results show that liposomal amphotericin B is the reference standard drug during no documented infection in term of cost. But, voriconazole does not have significative cost variation for Aspergillus disease. Same conclusion can be showed, in case of candidosis for caspofungin. The sensitivity analysis shows that daily cost treatment and body weight are variables with important impact on results. This preliminary analysis must be continued by a clinical study in order to assess different antifungal treatments.