Short Antibiotic Treatment in High Risk Febrile Neutropenia

Infections are a common complication in patients with cancer. They are a significant cause of complications and death in this population. Patients with cancer and low neutrophil counts due to chemotherapy or disease often have a fever and receive antibiotic treatment. The optimal duration of this treatment is largely unknown. Late, there have been some data suggesting the safety of early discontinuation of antibiotics, though most centers still give more prolonged antibiotic therapies in this situation. The unnecessary prolonged antibiotic use may increase infections with multi-drug-resistant bacteria, which carry a high death rate. Also, an increase in infections caused by Clostridioides difficile and an increase in fungal infections can happen. However, some are concerned that stopping antibiotics while the neutrophil count is still low will result in life-threatening infections. Our study aims to test whether shorter antibiotic treatment in these situations is as safe as more prolonged treatment, resulting in better antibiotic prescription practices in this population.