Suspected infections in children treated for ALL

Abstract

Most of the serious infections occur early in the treatment and the number of suspected and confirmed infections falls with age. Suspicion of infection is more likely in girls, but the number of confirmed infections is equal in both sexes. Coagulase-negative staphylococcus was most commonly isolated, highlighting the importance of careful handling of central venous devices.

Infectious complications in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with the Taiwan Pediatric Oncology Group protocol: A 16‐year tertiary single‐institution experience

“…Based on the distribution of infection type being similar to that in other pediatric ALL cohorts, our study identified risk factors for infection and suggested that physicians should be more cautious about controlling infection in these high‐risk patients. The most valuable aspects of our study cohort were the uniform clinical characteristics and treatment protocol; therefore, predicting infection risk was more convincing in our Taiwanese pediatric patients with ALL.…”

“…Generally, higher risk patients treated with the induction regimen (during the induction phase) are most susceptible to infection and severe infectious complications, including bloodstream (BS) infections and IRM . Patients who are younger in age and female are also at higher risk of infection …”