Infectious Complications After Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation for Hematological Malignancy

Linder, Kathleen A; McDonald, Philip J; Kauffman, Carol A; Revankar, Sanjay G; Chandrasekar, Pranatharthi H; Miceli, Marisa H

Infectious episodes were defined as episodes of fever or hemodynamic instability for which antimicrobial therapy was initiated and which were separated by at least 48 hours from previous episodes. Day of episode was counted as the first day of antimicrobial administration. The timing of neutrophil engraftment after UCBT was defined as the first of 3 consecutive days when the absolute neutrophil count was >500/μL. Graft-versushost disease, veno-occlusive disease, and other complications related to the transplant, including infection, were defined in accordance with NCCN Guidelines [14] . Conditioning regimens were classified as either myeloablative or reduced-intensity using criteria proposed by Bacigalupo et al [15] . National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Mycoses Study Group criteria were used for the definition of invasive fungal infections [16] . Cytomegalovirus infection and end-organ disease were defined by current consensus definitions [17] . Routine screening for CMV viremia was not performed; molecular testing for CMV, HHV-6, and Epstein-Barr virus was performed with febrile episodes.