![Sample our Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing & Allied Health journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5944/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Medicine-Dentistry-Nursing-Allied-Health.jpg"})
Abstract
Background: The aim of the study was to explore the incidence, microbiological etiology and outcome of febrile neutropenia among adult hematological patients following autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT).
Methods: The study population consisted of patients who received ASCT between 1 December 2006 and 30 November 2012. The epidemiology was compared to a retrospective series covering eleven previous years at the same institution. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients, who had been identified as a risk group in the retrospective study, received ciprofloxacin prophylaxis from January 2008.
Results: Altogether, 142 out of 178 of the included patients (80%) developed febrile neutropenia. The blood cultures were positive in 24 cases (17%). Of all bacteremia’s, 88% were caused by Gram-positive and 12% by Gram-negative bacteria. The number of Gram-negative bacteremia were significantly lower in the prospective study compared to the retrospective study (3/142, 2.1% vs. 23/265, 8.7%, p = .01). Pseudomonas aeruginosa was prevalent in the retrospective series but not discovered in the present series. Enterococcus faecium was found more frequently in the prospective study (6/142, 4.2 vs. 2/265, 0.8%, p = .02). The infectious mortality among patients with febrile neutropenia was 4/142 (2.8%) in the present series and 9/265 (3.4%) in those who received ASCT in 1996–2006.
Conclusion: Most patients who received ASCT developed febrile neutropenia and a minority had bacteraemia. In comparison to the earlier time period, the incidence of Gram-negative bacteraemias decreased, probably due to ciprofloxacin prophylaxis in NHL patients, but simultaneously the incidence of Enterococcus bacteraemias increased. Infectious mortality during febrile neutropenia was low in both series.
Disclosure statement
The authors report no conflicts of interest.