TABLE 1.
Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and episodes of febrile neutropenia
| Parameter for cefepime therapy courses (n = 30) | Value |
|---|---|
| No. (%) of male patients/no. (%) of female | |
| patients | 16 (53)/14 (47) |
| Median age (yr) (range) | 58 (32-78) |
| No. (%) of patients with type of malignancy | |
| Acute leukemiaa | 17 (57) |
| Non-Hodgkin lymphoma | 6 (20) |
| Multiple myeloma | 4 (13) |
| Solid tumors | 3 (10) |
| No. (%) of patients with type of chemotherapy | |
| High-dose cytarabine regimen (acute leukemia)b | 2 (7) |
| Low-dose cytarabine regimen (acute leukemia)c | 12 (40) |
| Autologous stem cell transplantationd | 11 (37) |
| Other | 5 (17) |
| Median duration of neutropenia (days) (range) | 14 (2-58) |
| No. of patients (%) with episodes of febrile neutropeniaf | |
| MDI | 13 (43) |
| Bacteremic | 12 (40) |
| Nonbacteremic | 1 (3) |
| CDI | 9 (30) |
| FUO | 8 (27) |
| No. (%) of patients who survived at discharge | 29 (97)e |
Fifteen patients with acute myeloid leukemia and two patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
High-dose cytarabine (1,000 to 2,000 mg/m2/day for 3 to 6 days with mitoxantrone, aracytin, or amsacrin).
Low-dose cytarabine (200 mg/m2/day for 7 days with daunorubicin, idarubicin, or amsacrin).
Conditioning regimens for autologous stem cell transplantation include (i) cytarabine (400 mg/m2/day for 4 days) with carmustine, etoposide phosphate, and melphalan; (ii) melphalan (200 mg/m2, single dose); and (iii) cyclophosphamide and etoposide-phosphate.
One patient died due to a toxic encephalopathy probably associated with intrathecal methotrexate therapy.
No severe sepsis or septic shock was observed. MDI, microbiologically documented infections; CDI, clinically documented infections; FUO, fever of undetermined origin.