Micafungin may be safely administered as outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy for chronic pulmonary aspergillosis.

BACKGROUND

Intravenous micafungin has been reported as a treatment alternative in patients with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) where long-term oral triazole therapy is unfeasible.

OBJECTIVES

We evaluated the safety and efficacy of micafungin administered via the outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) service for the treatment of CPA.

METHODS

We included all CPA patients who received micafungin via OPAT between April 2016 and March 2018. Data on adverse events and line-related complications, and Quality of Life (QoL) scores at the start of micafungin course and 3 months later were extracted. Improvements in QoL were defined as an improvement of ≥4 points in at least one modality (symptom, impact, activity, total) in the St George's QoL score. A stable QoL score was defined as a change in score of <4 points in either direction whilst deterioration was defined as an increase of ≥4 points.

RESULTS

There were 20 OPAT episodes involving 18 patients with a median duration of micafungin therapy of 21 (range: 4-248) days. Improvement or stability in the symptoms, activity, impact and total score was seen in 14 (78%), 12 (67%), 9 (50%) and 9 (50%) of the patients, respectively. However, half of the patients reported deterioration in the impact domain and total scores. By self-assessment, patients who categorised themselves as "poor" were comparable at the start of OPAT and at 3 months (43% vs 50%, McNemar's P = 0.7). Adverse events attributable to micafungin were recorded in 3 (14.3%) episodes.

CONCLUSIONS

Micafungin may be safely administered via an OPAT service. Micafungin therapy was associated with an improvement or stability in QoL scores in at least 50% of the patients across the four domains.