In vitro susceptibility of Candida species isolated from cancer patients to some antifungal agents.

This study was undertaken to study the resistance of Candida species isolated from oropharyngeal swabs of cancer patients to ketoconazole (KET), fluconazole (FLU), amphotericin B (AmpB), and flucytosine (FCU). The most common species identified was C. albicans, followed by C. tropicalis, C. glabrata, C. famata, C. krusei, C. kefyr, and C. gulliermondii. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the antifungal agents was evaluated by RPMI 1640 medium with microdilution method. There were no C. albicans strains resistant to KET, FLU and AmpB. All Candida isolates were found highly susceptible to AmpB (MIC AmpB <1 μg/ml), followed by KET (MIC KET ≤8 μg/ml), FLU (MIC FLU ≤8 μg/ml) and FCU (MIC FCU ≤4 μg/ml). The main conclusion of this study is that prophylactic therapy planned according to typing and antifungal susceptibility will contribute to the prevention of invasive fungal infections in immunosuppressied oncology patients.