Toxicity of Treatments for Non-tuberculous Mycobacterial Infections in Cancer Patients or Not

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are increasingly common and have a poor prognosis: 5-year mortality can reach 40 to 50%, depending on the type of mycobacteria and the immune system of the host involved. Cancer patients are at higher risk of infectious morbidity and mortality, which may be due to disease-related immune dysfunction, immunosuppressive effects of chemotherapy, or long-term placement of a vascular catheter. However, data on the treatment of NTM species that cause infections and the disease characteristics of these pathogens in cancer patients are limited despite the growing cancer population worldwide. Recently, M. avium infections have been described in patients suffering from cancers (hematological or not), in particular in patients receiving checkpoint inhibitors. Although the proportion of M. avium pneumonia in retrospective series is low (0.8-2%), it has been shown that this population is younger, suffers less from sub-pulmonary pathology. (indicating immunosuppression in these patients) but are therefore treated less than non-cancerous subjects.

This retrospective study in CHU Amiens is searching on the number of side effects of NTM treatment in two groups (cancerous and no cancerous) to assess the cause of the decrease of NTM treatment in cancerous patients.