Funguria in Cancer Patients: Analysis of Risk Factors, Clinical Presentation and Outcome in 50 Patients

Fifty cancer patients with funguria of > 10(5) CFU/ml, dysuria and leukocyturia were retrospectively analyzed for etiology, risk factors and outcome. In 72% of cases Candida albicans and in 28% non-albicans Candida spp. (Candida krusei, Candida tropicalis) and non-Candida spp. yeasts (Blastoschizomyces capitatus) were isolated. Torulopsis glabrata was not found among these patients. The most frequent risk factors were: antibiotic therapy with more than one antibiotic agent (96%), concomitant fungal infection in other localizations than the urinary tract (36%), colonization with the same species (48%), catheterization with urinary catheter or nephrostomy (46%), prophylaxis with quinolones (50%) and previous therapy with corticosteroids (72%). Structural or anatomic malformations of the urinary tract (26%), neutropenia (28%), antifungal prophylaxis with azoles (22%), and diabetes mellitus (12%) were less frequently seen. Thirty of 36 patients treated with systemic antifungals were cured and six were not.