Therapy with antibiotics in leukemic patients.

The recovery of an adequate granulocyte count after chemotherapy is the most important prognostic factor in neutropenic patients. In granulocytopenic patients, the risk of infection is very high and its course usually severe. Empiric antibiotic treatment must be started as soon as fever rises and blood cultures have been taken. The combination of an anti-pseudomonas penicillin with an aminoglycoside is presently the standard empiric therapy for febrile granulocytopenic patients. If the clinical response is inadequate, antimicrobial therapy should be adjusted to a bactericidal activity of greater than 1:16 in the serum. If antibiotic therapy fails, a fungal infection should be considered and amphotericin B added empirically. Patients must be closely supervised for superinfections. Therapeutic transfusions of granulocytes have proven useful in severe granulocytopenia and when antibiotic therapy has failed.