Fungal pneumonia due to molds in patients with hematological malignancies.

Invasive fungal infections are an important cause of morbility and mortality in patients with hematological malignancies. In particular patients with neutropenia and those who have undergone allogeneic hematopoietic stem cells transplantation are at high risk. Fungal pneumonia is the main clinical manifestation in these categories of patients. The fungal agents responsible for this complication are various, but Aspergillus spp and Zygomycetes represent the most frequent isolated micro-organisms. Less commonly pneumonia could be due to other molds, Cryptococcus spp, Pneumocystis jirovecii or Candida spp. This review focuses mainly on practical aspects relevant to the epidemiology, clinical diagnosis and the therapeutic management of pneumonia due to the filamentous fungal agents in patients affected by hematological malignancies.