Diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal complications in adult cancer patients: 2017 updated evidence-based guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Working Party (AGIHO) of the German Society of Hematology and Medical Oncology (DGHO)
DGHO-AGIHO · 2017 · Germany
Source and licence
- Authors
- M Schmidt-Hieber, J Bierwirth, D Buchheidt et al.
- Title
- Diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal complications in adult cancer patients: 2017 updated evidence-based guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Working Party (AGIHO) of the German Society of Hematology and Medical Oncology (DGHO)
- Journal
- Annals of Hematology, 2017
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Changes
- Verbatim excerpts; formatting adapted
Full text retrieved 2026-10-27 from Europe PMC · PMC5748412
Licence statement of the original publication
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
This page reproduces excerpts of the original publication; the original is authoritative. It has not been reviewed by a physician, does not state a recommendation of Medelix and does not replace medical advice. The guideline may have been updated since.
Open the original publication →Full text on Europe PMC
Recommendations
Verbatim, with grade of recommendation or strength of consensus where given.
Viral infections
- We recommend treating gastrointestinal CMV disease with ganciclovir for 2–3 weeks with induction dosing of 5 mg/kg bid iv, followed by several weeks of maintenance therapy at a dose of 5 mg/kg qd iv on 5–6 days per week. The prolonged treatment interval is intended to cover the period of mucosal re-epithelialization [172] (AI). The addition of intravenous immunoglobulins to antiviral therapy may be considered [180–182] (CII u). Concerning antiviral treatment alternatives, the administration of foscarnet [183] (BII t), cidofovir [184–186] (BII u), or the combination of foscarnet and ganciclovir may be considered [187–189] (BII t). Both substances, foscarnet and cidofovir, are associated with significant renal toxicity. Recommendations on the treatment of viral gastroenteritis are summarized in Table 6.
Abstract
Cancer patients frequently suffer from gastrointestinal complications. In this manuscript, we update our 2013 guideline on the diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal complications in adult cancer patients by the Infectious Diseases Working Party (AGIHO) of the German Society of Hematology and Medical Oncology (DGHO). An expert group was put together by the AGIHO to update the existing guideline. For each sub-topic, a literature search was performed in PubMed, Medline, and Cochrane databases, and strengths of recommendation and the quality of the published evidence for major therapeutic strategies were categorized using the 2015 European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) criteria. Final recommendations were approved by the AGIHO plenary conference. Recommendations were made with respect to non-infectious and infectious gastrointestinal complications. Strengths of recommendation and levels of evidence are presented. A multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal complications in cancer patients is mandatory. Evidence-based recommendations are provided in this updated guideline.
Contents of the original publication
The section headings of the original.
- Introduction
- Methods
- Guideline
- Diarrhea and colitis
- Compliance with ethical standards
A question about this guideline?
Medelix answers clinical questions from guidelines and studies – every statement with its source.
Are you the rights holder and object to this reproduction? Write to contact@medelix.ai and we will take the page down promptly. Imprint