• Oleg Epelbaum, Tina Marinelli, Qusay S Haydour, Kelly M Pennington, Scott E Evans, Eva M Carmona, Shahid Husain, Kenneth S Knox, Benjamin J Jarrett, Elie Azoulay, William W Hope, Ashley Meyer-Zilla, M Hassan Murad, Andrew H Limper, and Chadi A Hage.
• Westchester Medical Center, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Valhalla, New York, United States.
• Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 2024 Nov 18.

BackgroundThe incidence of invasive fungal infections is increasing in immune-competent and immune-compromised patients. An examination of the recent literature related to the treatment of fungal infections was performed to address two clinical questions. First, in patients with proven or probable invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, should combination therapy with a mold-active triazole plus echinocandin be administered vs. mold-active triazole monotherapy? Second, in critically ill patients at risk for invasive candidiasis who are non-neutropenic and are not transplant recipients, should systemic antifungal agents be administered either as prophylaxis or as empiric therapy?MethodsA multidisciplinary panel reviewed the available data concerning the two questions. The evidence was evaluated, and recommendations were generated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.ResultsA conditional recommendation was made for patients with proven or probable invasive pulmonary aspergillosis to receive either initial combination therapy with a mold-active triazole plus an echinocandin or initial mold-active triazole monotherapy based on low-quality evidence. Further, a conditional weak recommendation was made against routine administration of prophylactic or empiric antifungal agents targeting Candida species for critically ill patients without neutropenia or a history of transplant based on low-quality evidence.ConclusionsThe recommendations presented in these Guidelines are the result of an analysis of currently available evidence. Additional research and new clinical data will prompt an update in the future.

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