Invasive Fungal Infections: Current and Emerging Strategies Toward Improved Outcomes

Educational Overview
The management of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) has evolved immensely over the years, led by the development of a number of new antifungal agents and advanced diagnostic techniques that detect infections at early stages. Additionally, the importance of a multidisciplinary approach has taken precedence in ensuring patients receive the highest quality of care. The expanded use of antifungals (for prophylaxis, empiric or definitive treatment) has led to a global shift in etiology towards infections caused by organisms less susceptible to commonly used antifungals. Despite advances in development of new drug classes and diagnostic techniques, the incidence and mortality associated with IFIs have not changed substantially in the last two decades. This has led to frequent updates to evidence-based practice guidelines for various types of fungal infections by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. It is however at the discretion of the ID clinicians to decide on the appropriate strategy and agent to use based on patient factors, local epidemiology, and drug-drug interactions. Understanding how these factors can influence selection of the optimal agent is a critical component for successful outcomes and underscores the importance of collaboration among the various disciplines when addressing challenges of serious infections. This program features patient cases and various approaches used in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of IFIs.

Target Audience
This activity is designed for physicians, including ID physicians, surgeons, transplant specialists, pulmonologists, ICU physicians, hemo/oncologists, and pharmacists as well as other healthcare professionals on the frontline of caring for patients with or at risk for invasive fungal infections.

Learning Objectives
Healthcare professionals participating in this educational activity will be able at its conclusion to:

Recognize how the increasing prevalence of antifungal resistance can impact management decisions
Evaluate the latest diagnostic approaches for early detection of IFIs and to guide selection of initial antifungal therapy
Identify at-risk patients to guide antifungal prophylaxis
Select an appropriate antifungal agent based on evidence-based guideline recommendations and patient factors

Educational Format
These Online Presentations are based on the CME/CPE Satellite Symposium which was held following the official programming of IDWeek 2013.

Release Date: Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013

Expiration Date: Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014

This online activity is divided into six portable and easy to access episodes:

EPISODE 1:

IFI practice case 1
Changing Epidemiology of IFIs: Is Resistance Really an Issue?
Back to IFI practice case 1
Peter G. Pappas, MD, FACP

EPISODE 2:

IFI practice case 2
Changing Epidemiology of IFIs: Is Resistance Really an Issue?
Back to IFI practice case 2
Peter G. Pappas, MD, FACP

EPISODE 3:

IFI practice case 3
Assessing the Value of New Diagnostic Approaches in Clinical Mycology:
A Potential Win-Win Situation
Back to IFI practice case 3
Thomas F. Patterson, MD, FACP, FIDSA

EPISODE 4:

IFI practice case 4
Optimized Antifungal Prophylaxis for At-risk Patients:
Impact of Host-related Factors
Back to IFI practice case 4
John R. Perfect, MD

EPISODE 5:

IFI practice case 5
Optimizing Outcomes with Appropriate Antifungal Use
Back to IFI practice case 5
Elizabeth S. Dodds Ashley, PharmD, MHS, FCCP, BCPS

EPISODE 6:

Q & A from the Live Symposium

Update Notes for the Learner
As new data on emerging therapies and management guidelines become available during the duration of this online activity (e.g. IDSA fungal guidelines updates; new approved therapies; new clinical trial data published), we will provide the new and current information in this section.

Faculty

	Peter G. Pappas, MD, FACP William E. Dismukes Professor of Medicine Principal Investigator, Mycoses Study Group Division of Infectious Diseases University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, AL
	Thomas F. Patterson, MD, FACP, FIDSA Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases Professor of Medicine Director, San Antonio Center for Medical Mycology The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio San Antonio, TX
	John R. Perfect, MD James B. Duke Professor of Medicine Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC
	Elizabeth S. Dodds Ashley, PharmD, MHS, FCCP, BCPS Associate Director of Clinical Pharmacy Service Department of Pharmacy at the University of Rochester Medical Center Rochester, NY

Accreditation
Physicians
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of the Center for Independent Healthcare Education and Vemco MedEd, LLC. Center for Independent Healthcare Education (Center) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Center for Independent Healthcare Education designates this Enduring material for a maximum of 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Pharmacists

Center for Independent Healthcare Education is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider for continuing pharmacy education. Center has assigned 2.0 contact hours (0.2 CEUs) of continuing pharmacy education credits for participating in this activity.

ACPE UAN: 0473-9999-13-017-H01-P
Activity type: Application-based

For questions regarding accreditation, please contact info@jointsponsor.com

Method of Participation and Instruction for Credit

Review the entire CME/CPE information including target audience, learning objectives, and disclosures.
Review each episode.
Complete the Online Post Test, Evaluation, and Credit Application form (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KJBRBPQ).
Please note that to receive credit you must achieve a score of at least 70%.
Physicians: Certificate of Credit will be emailed within 4 weeks of successful completion of the activity.
Pharmacists: The information that you participated will be uploaded to CPE Monitor and you will be able to access your credits from the profile you set up with NABP. For more information, please visit http://www.nabp.net/.
Note: If you have received credit for attending the live symposium by the same name, you are not eligible to apply for credit for this online version.

DISCLOSURE OF CONFLICTS ON INTEREST
In accordance with policies set forth by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), Center for Independent Healthcare Education requires all faculty members and spouses/significant others with an opportunity to affect the content of a continuing education activity to disclose any relevant financial relationships during the past 12 months with commercial interests. A commercial interest is any entity producing, marketing, reselling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by or used on patients. Relationships with commercial interests and conflicts of interest resulting from those relationships must be revealed to the audience and resolved prior to the activity

Relevant relationships include roles such as speaker, author, consultant, independent contractor (including research), employee, investor, advisory committee member, board member, review panelist, and investigator. If a potential speaker or author indicates a possible conflict of interest, the conflict will be resolved by choosing another speaker or author for that topical area, or the slides, handouts, and/or monograph will be reviewed and approved by a qualified commercially-disinterested peer.

Planning Committee Members
Peter G. Pappas, MD
Thomas F. Patterson, MD
John R. Perfect, MD
Elizabeth S. Dodds Ashley, PharmD
Paul DeLisle
Marco Cicero, PhD
Maja Drenovac, PharmD, CCMEP

DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INTEREST SUMMARY
Peter G. Pappas, MD (Faculty/Planner) has relevant financial relationships with commercial interest as follows:

Advisory Board: Merck, Astellas, Gilead, T2Biosystems
Grant Recipient/Research Support: Merck, Astellas, Gilead, T2Biosystems

Dr. Pappas does not discuss the off-label use of a product.

Thomas F. Patterson, MD (Faculty/Planner) has relevant financial relationships with commercial interests as follows:

Consultant: Astellas, Merck, Scynexis, Toyoma, Viamet
Grant Recipient/Research Support: Merck, Astellas, Pfizer

Dr. Patterson does not discuss the off-label use of a product.

John R. Perfect, MD (Faculty/Planner) has relevant financial relationships with commercial interest as follows:

Advisory Board: Astellas
Consultant: Scynexis, F2G, Viamet
Grant Recipient/Research Support: Merck, Astellas, Pfizer

Dr. Perfect does discuss the following off-label uses: Certain azoles and echinocandins use for prophylaxis.

Elizabeth S. Dodds Ashley, PharmD (Faculty/Planner) does not have relevant financial relationships with commercial interests.
Dr. Dodds Ashley does not discuss the off-label use of a product.

No other speakers, authors, planners or content reviewers have any relevant financial relationships to disclose. No other speakers or authors will discuss off-label use of a product.

Content review confirmed that the content was developed in a fair, balanced manner free from commercial bias. Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone commercial bias in any presentation, but it is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation.

Joint Sponsorship
This activity is jointly sponsored by Center for Independent Healthcare Education and Vemco MedEd.

Commercial Support
This activity is supported by an educational grant from Astellas Scientific and Medical Affairs, Inc.

Fee
There is no fee to participate in this activity.

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