Febrile neutropenia in cancer patients in a tertiary care medical center in Lebanon: microbial spectrum and outcome.

We prospectively analyzed the episodes of febrile neutropenia at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. One hundred and four episodes were studied in 64 patients over a period of 15 months: 81 (78%) with leukemia, 11 (10.5%) with lymphoma, 3 (2.8%) with multiple myeloma, and 9 (8.6%) with solid tumors. Bacteremia was confirmed in 30 episodes (29%), of which 18 (60%) were caused by gram-negative bacilli and 12 (40%) by gram-positive cocci. The predominant organisms were: E. coli (9), coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) (6), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5), and S. aureus (4). In seven episodes (6.7%) urinary tract infections were diagnosed, 6 with E. coli. Sputum cultures were positive in eight episodes (7%), 2 with P. aeruginosa, and 2 with methicillin resistant S. aureus. All patients were started empirically on antibacterial agents. In twenty-one episodes, a single antibiotic was started, ceftazidime being the most commonly used agent. In most cases, however, 2 or 3 antibacterial agents were started empirically. Antifungal therapy with amphotericin B (11) or fluconazole (20) was added because of persistent fever despite broad antibacterial coverage. Thirteen patients died (20%), 6 of them had bacteremia; 2 with gram-negative bacilli, and 4 with gram-positive cocci. Except for one, all patients had been started, at the onset of the fever, on antimicrobial agents to which the isolated microorganisms turned out to be susceptible. Our results show that infections with gram-negative bacteria continue to predominate unlike what has been reported recently from European and North American trials. A trend toward a higher mortality of infections caused by gram-positive cocci was noted.