Introduction:

Febrile neutropenia frequently affects patients with hematological malignancies and constitutes a medical emergency. Its therapeutic management is a real challenge at present, due to the appearance of infections caused by multiresistant microorganisms and the coexistence of patient- and treatment-dependent factors leading to risk for serious complications.

Methods:

An exhaustive review was conducted about the topic in the main databases of the Virtual Health Library, for which papers mainly published in the last five years were used as reference.

Data analysis and synthesis:

A diagnostic and therapeutic approach was applied to the study of patients at high risk for complications due to bacterial infections and their comprehensive evaluation. Recent tools to screen sepsis and sepsis-related organ damage are included which constitute mortality prediction elements in these patients.

Conclusions:

Comprehensive management of febrile neutropenia includes not only a detailed clinical and humoral evaluation, but also the application of prognostic tools for risk stratification in each patient. Patient treatment should be started within the first hour after fever documentation, since infections may be rapidly progressive with a high risk for the development of sepsis, hemodynamic instability and multiple organ dysfunction.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )