Science and pragmatism in the treatment and prevention of neutropenic infection.

The following aspects of the management of patients with granulocytopenia and fever are reviewed in this article: adaptation of initial antibiotic regimens to the recent changes in the most common causative pathogens (namely a change from Gram-negative bacteria to Gram-positive bacteria and fungi); subsequent modifications of the empirically administered treatments; improvement of the host's defence by reducing the duration of neutropenia; and indications for out patient therapy of febrile episodes.