Infections in Hemopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients, Part I

Hemopoietic stem cell transplantation, often called bone marrow transplantation, is a relatively new medical procedure that is now used to treat patients who were diagnosed with diseases once thought incurable, such as hematologic malignancies, immune deficiencies, solid tumors such as breast and ovarian cancers, sickle cell disease, and genetic-defect disorders. Patients who receive bone marrow transplantation also receive severe immunosuppression therapy as part of their care to minimize the risk of donor stem cell rejection. As a consequence of the patient's profound immunosuppression, opportunistic infections emerge as common causes of disease. Part I of this article will review some of the more common opportunistic fungal infections that can occur in these immunocompromised patients, with an emphasis on methods for their laboratory diagnosis.