Table 2.
Patient enrolment criteria
| Inclusion criteria | Adult patient (≥18 y) Underlying diagnosis of haematological malignancy (acute leukaemia, chronic myeloid neoplasm, B, T, and/or NK cell lymphoma, histiocytic neoplasm, and multiple myeloma) Neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count <500 cells/μL) Fever documented single oral temperature ≥101 °F (38.3 °C), or a temperature of ≥100.4 °F (38 °C) for at least an hour |
| Exclusion criteria | Prior targeted antibiotic therapy for >24 h (excluding prophylactic antibiotics)a Adequate blood sample not available Failure to obtain informed consent Patient is not expected to survive >24 h beyond the time of potential study enrolment visit |
a
Culture recovery can be compromised as the length of antibiotic treatment increases.