Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - National Cancer Institute - Department of Pediatric Oncology

Background: Infectious complications are a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer patients especially those with hematological malignancies. Decrease the risk of serious and long lasting infections need detailed information about the frequency and characteristic features of infections. Objective: To assess epidemiology of infectious episodes and to evaluate infection related mortality during maintenance phase of chemotherapy. Patients and methods: Retrospective cohort study of infectious complications for ALL pediatric patients who treated at NCI during the period from June 2011 to December 2014. Results: A total of 1052 infectious episodes recorded in 146/152 ALL pediatric patients during maintenance chemotherapy with an average of 7 episodes/ patient and a range of 0-26 episodes/patient. FUO was the most common infectious episodes (36.8%) followed by clinically documented infections (26%), viral (17%), bacterial (16.8%) and fungal infections (3.6%). Most of infectious episodes 412/1052 (39.16%) occurred during early phase of maintenance chemotherapy w (1-19). Standard and high risk group reported 609/1052 (58%) infectious episode of which (44%) reported during early phase, in comparison to low risk group reported 433/1052 (41.2%) infectious episode, of which (33%) episodes reported during the early phase

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