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Interferon gamma replacement as salvage therapy in chronic pulmonary aspergillosis: effects on frequency of acute exacerbation and all-cause hospital admission.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Harris, Chris 
Döffinger, Rainer 
Hayes, Gemma 
Denning, David W 

Abstract

Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) is often poorly responsive to antifungal treatment; secondary infections increase morbidity/mortality, particularly in progressive cases. Interferon gamma (IFNγ) has been implicated in not only Aspergillus control but also bacterial clearance. Clinical notes of patients with CPA treated with IFNγ (2011-2018) were retrospectively hand-searched. In patients treated for >12 months (n=20), the frequency of acute exacerbation reduced from 3.1 to 1.4 episodes/year (p=0.006) in the 12 months after treatment initiation compared with the 12 months before. A significant reduction in the frequency of hospital admissions/year was also observed (0.8 to 0.3, p=0.04). These findings support further prospective studies.

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Keywords

aspergillus lung disease, immunodeficiency, respiratory infection, Adult, Aged, Chronic Disease, Female, Hospitalization, Humans, Interferon-gamma, Male, Middle Aged, Pulmonary Aspergillosis, Retrospective Studies, Salvage Therapy

Journal Title

Thorax

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0040-6376
1468-3296

Volume Title

Publisher

BMJ