Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns in Infections Among Patients With Hematologic Malignancies: A Systematic Review
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance is an important clinical challenge in patients with hematologic malignancies, who are highly susceptible to severe infections due to prolonged neutropenia, disrupted mucosal barriers, intensive chemotherapy, and hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. This systematic review synthesizes available international evidence on pathogen distribution, antimicrobial resistance patterns, and clinical outcomes in hemato-oncology settings. This systematic review searched PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar for English-language studies published from January 2014 to 15 November 2025. Studies reporting microbiologically confirmed infections in patients with hematologic malignancies, with extractable antimicrobial susceptibility or resistance data, were included. Due to substantial clinical, microbiological, methodological, and epidemiological heterogeneity, findings were synthesized qualitatively. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria. Gram-negative bacteria predominated across most settings, although pathogen distribution varied by region, age group, infection type, and denominator unit. Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterales, carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, multidrug-resistant Gram-negative organisms, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus were reported across included studies. Where extractable study-level data were available, ESBL-related estimates ranged from 40% to 78%,…
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