• Raghukumar Thirumala, Madhusudanan Ramaswamy, and Sanjay Chawla.
• Critical Care Medicine Service, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, C1179, New York, NY 10021, USA.
• Crit Care Clin. 2010 Jan 1; 26 (1): 59-91.

AbstractCancer and its treatments lead to profound suppression of innate and acquired immune function. In this population, bacterial infections are common and may rapidly lead to overwhelming sepsis and death. Furthermore, infections caused by viral and fungal pathogens should be considered in patients who have specific immune defects. As cancer therapies have become more aggressive the risk for infection has increased and many patients require intensive care support. Despite improvements in long-term survival, infections remain a common complication of cancer therapy and accounts for the majority of chemotherapy-associated deaths. By understanding the host defense impairments and likely pathogens clinicians will be better able to guide diagnosis and management of this unique population.

11 keywords...

hide…