Martin Mistrík, Eva Demečková, Eva Bojtárová, Pavol Kotouček, Jana Tóthová, Katarína Bocková, Zuzana Michalovičová, Branislav Czako
Prolonged neutropenia (neutrophil count less than 0,5x109/l) is a major risk factor for the development of infections. The signs and symptoms of infection are often absent or muted in the presence of neutropenia, but fever remains an early, although nonspecific, sign. Nowadays is rare for acute leukemia or transplanted patients to die from infection during neutropenia. There are effective methods to anticipate, prevent, and manage infectious complications in neutropenic patients that improve outcomes. Appropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy reduces morbidity and improves febrile neutropenia outcome. Increasingly, however, it is clear that managing infections in neutropenic patients is a dynamic process with the appearance of new pathogens, the emergence of antibiotic-resistant organisms, and the improved stratification of patient’s infection risk. Therefore effective strategies in febrile neutropenia clinical management has to continue to evolve.