The outpatient management of febrile neutropenia in cancer patients

Treatment of fever and neutropenia in cancer patients has been recognized for 30 years as a medical emergency, requiring prompt in-hospital evaluation and institution of broad-spectrum intravenous (IV) antibiotics. This action was deemed necessary due to the high frequency of life-threatening infections in febrile neutropenic patients, with no way to distinguish patients who are infected from those who are not. In recent years, it has become clear that not all neutropenic cancer patients are at the same level of risk for developing severe infections or life-threatening complications during neutropenia. Those who are at low risk may be candidates for treatment outside the hospital setting, either with IV regimens or potent oral antibiotics. The identification of low-risk febrile neutropenic patients and the specific outpatient approaches that have been tested to date are discussed. Outpatient management of fever during neutropenia could obviously be much less costly than standard inpatient care and could improve quality of life for low-risk patients undergoing cancer therapy.