Retrospective analysis of the effect of caspofungin and itraconazole in the treatment of invasive pulmonary fungal infection

Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of caspofungin and itraconazole in the treatment of invasive pulmonary fungal infection(IPFI).Methods: A retrospective analysis was applied to collect the data about the basic characteristics and signs of patients,clinical manifestation and adverse events in invasive pulmonary fungal infection patients in pneumology department from Sep 2010 to Aug 2011.And the clinical efficacy and the incidence of adverse reactions were compared and statistically analyzed between caspofungin and itraconazole group.Results: Caspofungin group had 36 cases and itraconazole group had 31 cases.The overall effective rates of caspofungin group and itraconazole group were 58.3% and 38.7%,with significant difference between two groups(P 0.05).The overall incidences of adverse reaction in caspofungin group and itraconazole group were 22.2% and 54.8%,respectively.There was significant difference in drug withdrawal after toxicity reaction between two groups(P 0.05),four patients changed to other medicines because of toxicity reaction in itraconazole group,while that did not occur in caspofungin group.Conclusion: Caspofungin was associated with better clinical outcomes(higher cure and fewer adverse effects) than itraconazole in the treatment of invasive pulmonary fungal infections,it should be used rationally in order to reduce the emergence of resistant strains.