Invasive pulmonary fungal infection accompanied by severe hemoptysis in patients with hematologic diseases: a report of nine cases

Abstract

Severe hemoptysis is the fatal complication of invasive pulmonary fungal infection (IPFI) in patients with hematologic diseases. This report retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of nine IPFI patients with hematologic diseases complicated with severe hemoptysis. Four in nine patients were diagnosed of proven IPFI, probable was established in two and the remaining were diagnosed of possible. Seven patients did not respond to the primary treatment, and four of them also did not respond to the salvage therapy. In these nine patients, seven presented massive hemoptysis and all died of that; other two patients presented severe hemoptysis. The result indicates that ineffective initial treatment and irregular therapy may underlie the concurrence of massive hemoptysis. The prognosis of IPFI patients with massive hemoptysis is very poor. Special attention for IPFI treatment should be prophylaxis, early management as well as sufficient and a whole course administration of effective broad-spectrum antifungal agents.