SERUM IMMUNOGLOBULIN VALUES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INVASIVE FUNGAL INFEC- TIONS IN THE HEMATOLOGICAL PATIENTS

TUNCER ŞAK¹, OSMAN YOKU޲, HABİP GEDİK³

¹Department of Internal Diseases, Ministry of Health İstanbul Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey - ²Department of Hematology, Ministry of Health İstanbul Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkeyl - ³Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Ministry of Health Bakirköy Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate whether lower serum immunoglobulins, especially IgG, increase the development of fungal infection in patients with hematological malignancy.

Material and methods: Patients, who were hospitalized due to hematological maligancies at Ministry of Health Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, between April 2015 and January 2017, in hematology and internal medicine clinics and diag- nosed with a fungal infection in compatible with a galactomannan positivity as well as frosted glass opacities and nodular infil- trates on high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and chest X-ray, with or without a yielded microbiological culture, were evaluated in this retrospective case - control study.

Results: A total of 22 patients with hematological malignancies (HM) and invasive fungal infections (IFI; cases group) were compared with 22 patients with HM without IFI (control group) in the study. The IgG level in the cases group was signifi- cantly lower than the control group (p: 0.044). The mean IgA and M values in the cases group and control group did not differ significantly (p > 0.05). The mean Galactomannan value in the cases group was significantly higher than the control group (p ˂ 0.041).

Conclusion: Serum IgG levels were found to be lower in patients with invasive fungal infection during the treatment of hematologic malignancy than in patients with hematological malignancy and without invasive fungal infection. There needs a randomized-control study to describe the relationship between low serum immunglobulin values in patients with hematological malignancy and development of invasive fungal infection.