Investigating the effect of sodium chloride on the prevention of mucormycosis fungal infection in children with acute lymphocytic leukemia during treatment

Given that no comprehensive study was conducted regarding the effect of sodium chloride on the prevention of mucormycosis fungal infection in acute leukemia patients during treatment, this study aimed the investigating the effect of sodium chloride  on the prevention of mucormycosis fungal infection in acute lymphocytic leukemia patients during treatment.

This retrospective study was conducted on children with ALL who were undergoing chemotherapy in the induction phase and were susceptible to fungal and infectious diseases. Then 84 patients were randomly divided into the two groups. One group (n=46) received nasal drop containing sodium chloride (NORMONIX, 0.65%, three times a day) as the intervention group during treatment and another group did not receive sodium chloride (control group)(n=38). If the symptoms of mucormycosis was observed and detected (positive test), the injection of amphotrypsin B was started.

In the current study, 84 patients entered the study.  The mean age of patients in the control group and the intervention group was 7.84±3.45, and 6.45±3.4 years, respectively (P>0.05). Positive mucormycosis was seen in 24 (63.2%) patients in the control group and 16 (34.78%) patients in the intervention group (P=0.01).

According to the findings of this study, the frequency of patients with positive mucormycosis in the NaCl group was significantly lower than the control group.  Therefore, it seems that NaCl drop can be effective regarding reducing the incidence of mucormycosis fungal infection and can decrease the need to amphotrypsin B, but further studies should be conducted in this regard.