Introduction Malignant fungal wounds are characterized by the infiltration and proliferation of neoplastic cells in the skin, causing tissue integrity rupture. The prevalence of these lesions is between 5% to 10% [1]. The odor of these wounds is the cause of social isolation for the patient, because it represents a barrier to being close to people, worsening of nutritional state associated with episodes of nausea and vomiting caused by a fetid odor and consequent loss of quality of life. There

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... s a gap with respect to the knowledge of what factors are most relevant in the development of the odor. Objective To identify in literature the main factors related to the etiology of the odor of malignant fungal wounds. Method Integrative review of literature. We used the acronym PICO to draw up strategies for searches in the search portal PubMed, CINAHL and LILACS. Inclusion criteria: full articles published in Portuguese, English and Spanish; central theme factors related to the odor of fungal malignant wounds; performed with adult populations; published in the last ten years. Results The sample of this review was composed by six studies published between 2009 and 2018. Three studies were quasi-experimental (50%), two case reports (33.3%), and a prospective cohort (16.6%). The six articles were published in the English language, having originated from Japan (33.3%), Canada (16.6%), France (16.6%), England (16.6%) and the United States (16.6%). The factors related to the fungal odor in malignant wounds were the infection caused by aerobic and anaerobic organisms, devitalized tissue and the presence of purulent exudate. Conclusion The knowledge of the factors related with the odor of fungal malignant wounds will allow the development of more effective nursing care, focused on odor control, providing a better quality of life to the patient.