Bulletin of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Assiut · Published 2026-06-25 · DOI 10.21608/bfsa.2026.417401.2713
Tasneem Hassan Younes, Olfat Mostafa El-shinnawy, Mohamed Mostafa Metwally, Hebat-allah Gamal Rashed, Sarah Mohammed Hashem, Noha Omar Sayed Khalil
Background: Lung cancer patients are prone to airway colonization (AWC), which predisposes them to infectious complications. There are variable reports about the prevalence of AWC in lung cancer patients. The study aims to determine the prevalence of AWC in a group of lung cancer patients, explore the microbial profile of those patients, and describe the antimicrobial susceptibility of the retrieved organisms before starting radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Patients and Methods: Bronchial wash was obtained from 103 lung cancer patients during diagnostic bronchoscopy, collected into sterile containers and sent for microbiological analysis that included Gram staining, culture and sensitivity on different culture media, in addition to automated identification and antimicrobial susceptibility using VITEK® 2 Compact system. Results: Data of 103 patients were analyzed. The mean age of the patients was 60 years old, 85.4% of them were males, and 79.9% were current or ex-smokers. Adenocarcinoma was the most detected pathology (62.1%). Microbial colonization was detected in 25 patients (24.3%). Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most frequently retrieved organism (28%). Fourteen patients (56%) were colonized by sensitive organisms. Neither age, gender, tumor location nor its histological type impacted antimicrobial susceptibility. Though resistant organisms were more associated with presence of consolidation in CT and moderate tumor differentiation, the differences were statistically insignificance. Conclusion: The prevalence of AWC in lung cancer patients was 19%. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common colonizing organism. Antimicrobial resistance was high in frequency, though no clinical, radiological or pathological factors significantly influenced antimicrobial susceptibility.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
Read the article at the publisher →
Younes, T., El-shinnawy, O., Metwally, M., et al. (2026). Pre-Treatment Prevalence of Microbial Colonization in Lung Cancer Patients. Bulletin of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Assiut. https://doi.org/10.21608/bfsa.2026.417401.2713