The Editors of the Journal of Chemotherapy have instituted an annual award in the memory of Professor Piero Periti (see photo), founder of the Journal, for the best Review Article published during the year in the Journal.
Combination antifungal therapy for invasive mould diseases in haematologic patients. An update on clinical data
Anna Candonia*, Franco Aversab Alessandro Buscac, Simone Cesarod, Corrado Girmeniae, Mario Luppif, Giuseppe Rossig, Adriano Vendittih, Anna Maria Nosarii & Livio Paganoj
aDivision of Hematology and BMT, University of Udine, Italy; bDivision of Hematology and BMT -AOU Parma, Italy; cStem Cell Transplant Center Ematologia II, AOU San Giovanni Battista, Turin, Italy; dPediatric Hematology Oncology AOU Integrata, Verona, Italy; eDepartment of Hematology, Oncology, Phatology and Regenerative Medicine, Azienda Policlinico Umberto I, Rome, Italy; fDepartment of Medical and Surgical Sciences University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Haematology Unit, AOU Policlinico, Modena, Italy; gDivision of Hematology Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy; hUniversity of Rome Tor Vergata Rome, Italy; iDivision of Hematology Niguarda Ca’ Granda Hospital, Milano, Italy; jDivision of Hematology, UCSC, Rome, Italy
Invasive mould diseases (IMDs) are often encountered in haematologic patients who undergo chemotherapy or who require allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), and still represent a challenge for physicians. The availability of antifungals with different targets has set the foundation to improve the outcomes of patients with IMDs and also to develop innovative therapeutic approaches. Among these, using combinations of antifungal drugs is an attractive option for reasons such as the broader spectrum of activity, synergy between compounds with different targets, and a reduced risk of fungal resistance. In addition, in vitro studies and animal models have provided evidence supporting the use of combination strategies. Although no controlled, well-powered, prospective clinical trials are yet available to demonstrate the superiority of combination versus monotherapy, the persistently high mortality rate associated with IMDs has stimulated the use of combinations of antifungal drugs, both in adult and paediatric patients. In this paper, we review the recent published literature on combination therapy for the treatment of IMDs in adult and paediatric haematologic patients.
The winner of the award in 2016 is Anna Candoni from the University of Udine, Italy (see photo), for her article entitled ‘‘Combination antifungal therapy for invasive mould diseases in haematologic patients. An update on clinical data” published in our January, 2015 issue. Anna Candoni’s article will be available free to access for a year of charge on our Journal’s website: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/yjoc20/current. We congratulate her on her fine article. The abstract of her paper is above.