To Determine Whether Galactomannan Test Will Help to Detect Fungal Infections Early and Hence Start Treatment Early

Condition(s) targeted: Aspergillosis

Intervention: Galactomannan antigen monitoring, Aspergillus PCR (Procedure); blood draws (Other); GM monitoring (Other)

Phase: Phase 3

Status: Recruiting

Sponsored by: Singapore General Hospital

Official(s) and/or principal investigator(s):
Ban H Tan, Dr, Principal Investigator, Affiliation: Singapore General Hospital

Overall contact:
Ban H Tan, Dr, Phone: 6222-3322, Email: tan.ban.hock@sgh.com.sg

Chemotherapy lowers the white blood cell count or weakens the immune system for a long time. This puts the patients at a high risk of getting a serious fungal infection of internal organ or blood. One of these infections is called by a mould called Aspergillus and can be life threatening. Usually doctors give preventive antifungal therapy to try to lower the risk of this infection. Despite this patients are still at risk of getting fungal infection. This

study is thus designed to test Galactomannan - a component of cell wall of Aspergillus and

hence detect and treat fungal infection early.

Official title: Using Serum Galactomannan Levels in a Prospective, Randomised, Non-Blinded Trial to Guide Early Anti-Fungal Therapy in Haematology Patients at Risk of Invasive Aspergillosis.

Study design: Diagnostic, Randomized, Open Label, Active Control, Parallel Assignment, Efficacy Study

Primary outcome: Development of proven or probable invasive fungal infection, fungal related mortality and overall survival in an intention to treat basis.

Secondary outcome: Duration of antifungal therapy and toxicity associated with antifungal therapy.

Detailed description:      The diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis (IA) remains a challenge in the febrile neutropenic and the hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. Recent studies have shown that early diagnosis of IA is possible in this group of high-risk patients. Serial screening of circulating Galactomannan (GM), an epitopic determinant of several antigens secreted by the Aspergillus early in its growth, has been shown to be sensitive and specific in the diagnosis of IA. This test may help us to detect IA early, , thereby permitting a pre-emptive strategy to be initiated in high-risk patients. In a prospective, randomized, non-blinded study, we seek to compare the outcome of a novel GM-guided anti-fungal strategy against the conventional empirical antifungal therapy. Patients randomized to the conventional arm will not undergo serial GM monitoring, but will receive standard anti-fungal prophylaxis and standard empirical antifungal therapy in accordance with published guidelines. Patients randomized to the GM arm will receive standard anti-fungal prophylaxis but will not receive empiric anti-fungal therapy unless 2 GM readings are positive. The study aims to determine if such a strategy permits targeted, pre-emptive therapy in those at greatest risk, and spare febrile patients without evidence of fungal infection other than prolonged fever from unnecessary and potentially toxic therapy. It also aims to determine if GM guided pre-emptive antifungal therapy using Amphotericin-B deoxycholate prevents the development of proven or probable invasive aspergillosis (IA). The study will also prospectively evaluate (in a blinded fashion) the use of Realtime polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay in the same cohort of patients receiving GM serial monitoring, and investigate its role in the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of Invasive Aspergillosis.

Minimum age: 12 Years. Maximum age: N/A. Gender(s): Both.

Criteria:

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with newly diagnosed acute leukemia or high risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) receiving induction chemotherapy with expected duration of neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count of <500/ mL) of at least 10 days

2. Patients with relapsed acute leukemia or MDS receiving salvage chemotherapy with expected duration of neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count of <500/ mL) of at least 10 days

3. Patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) receiving chemotherapy or immunosuppressive therapy using antithymocyte globulin

4. Patients receiving allogeneic/autologous hematopoeitic stem cell transplant (HSCT) using myeloablative conditioning regimens.

5. Patients are at least 12 years of age, with Karnofsky score ³ 70%.?

6. Patients on consolidation chemo regimens like HIDAC and HyperCVAD type B with expected duration of neutropenia (ANC<500/ml)of at least 10 days

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patients who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected.

2. Patients with uncontrolled bacteremia or active pulmonary infection at the time of randomisation

3. Patients with pre-existing proven and probable invasive fungal infections, according to the definitions of the invasive Fungal Infections Cooperative Group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer; Mycoses Study Group of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. [10]

4. Patients receiving concomitant piperacillin/tazobactam or co-amoxyclavulinic acid.

5. Patients on palliative chemotherapy.

6. Patients with history of allergy to triazoles.

7. Patients with prior history of anaphylactic reaction to conventional amphotericin B

8. Patients with serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, or bilirubin more than 5 times the upper limit of normal or renal impairment with calculated creatinine clearance < 30ml/min.

9. Patients with expected life-expectancy < 72 hours.

Ban H Tan, Dr, Phone: 6222-3322, Email: tan.ban.hock@sgh.com.sg

Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore; Recruiting
Ban H Tan, Dr, Principal Investigator
Gee C Wong, Dr, Sub-Investigator

Related publications:

Lin SJ, Schranz J, Teutsch SM. Aspergillosis case-fatality rate: systematic review of the literature. Clin Infect Dis. 2001 Feb 1;32(3):358-66. Epub 2001 Jan 26. Review.

Starting date: June 2006
Ending date: June 2009
Last updated: January 13, 2008