Chemotherapy-Induced Febrile Neutropenia in Pediatric Can-cer Patients

Abstract

Background and aims. Febrile neutropenia is one of the major acute complications in pediatric cancer patients treated with intensive chemotherapy. The present study aimed to report a cohort of pediatric cancer patients presented with febrile neutropenia at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Misrata, Libya. Patients and Methods. This is a retrospective study that included patients under 18 years old admitted to NCI with malignancies and febrile neutropenia from January 2021 to September 2022. Results. The total cohort comprises 50 pediatric patients with malignancies and febrile neutropenia who were admitted to the NCI. There were 36 males (72%) and 14 females (28%). Febrile neutropenia was observed in all different age groups but was more frequent (42%) in the children of age group between four to six years followed by age group one to three years old. Febrile neutropenia was observed mainly in the 6th and 7th day after initiation of the chemotherapy. Majority of the patients (73%) had B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Most of the cases were treated empirically, and the most frequent pre-scribed-antibiotic agents were Tazocin and Amikacin (67%). If no clinical, biochemical and/or micro-biological response achieved after 72 to 96 hours, these antibiotics were changed or escalated to the second line of treatment. Conclusion. We described in this study the clinical course of febrile neutropenia in pediatric cancer patients admitted to our center. Due to a weak immune response, febrile neutropenic cancer patients, are at high risk for any kind of infection including opportunistic infections. It is therefore necessary to take precautions for infection prevention and choose the best way management to obtain optimal results in these high-risk patients.