Nosocomial fungal infections after pediatric cardiac surgery

Mehmet Fatih Ayık,

Mehmet Fatih Ayık¹, Yüksel Atay¹, Çağatay Engin¹, Süleyha Hilmioğlu², Dilek Yeşim Metin², Gülver Hacıoğlu¹, E. Alp Alayunt¹

¹Ege Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Kalp ve Damar Cerrahisi Anabilim Dalı,İzmir
²Ege Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Mikrobiyoloji ve Klinik Mikrobiyoloji Anabilim Dalı, İzmir

Background: Fungal infections after pediatric cardiac surgery are uncommon but serious complications. Fungal infections following pediatric cardiac surgery were evaluated in the present study.

Methods: Between 2000 and 2003, 398 patients with pediatric cardiac disease were operated in our institute. Although 4500 microbiologic materials were analysed in this period, only 2.2% of all samples were investigated for the diagnosis of fungal infections.

Results: Positive fungal cultures were obtained in 67.3% samples which investigated for the diagnosis of fungal pathogens. All postoperative fungal infections were caused by Candida species. All patients were treated by fluconazole. The mortality rate was 55.5% in patients with fungal infections.

Conclusions: Fungal infections following pediatric cardiac surgery appeared to be more frequent than expected and were associated with high mortality. We conclude that all microbiologic samples should be analysed for fungal infections especially in pediatric groups.

Keywords : Candidiasis; diseases, cardiovascular; mycoses; pediatrics

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