BACKGROUND Neutropenic patients are vulnerable to a wide spectrum of infectious agents. The aim of this study was to determine the current frequency of bacterial infections in patients with nosocomial fever and neutropenia. METHODS In a retrospective study, the neutropenic patients' specimens with nosocomial fever were cultured on blood and MacConkey agar plates and evaluated at microbiology ...

Background Neutropenic fever and mucositis with 70% outbreak average is one of the major reasons of death in the acute leukemia adult patients. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of serum zinc level with neutropenic fever and mucositis prevalence in acute leukemia adult patients and comparison of the effects of therapeutic intervention with the serum zinc correct level in t...

A retrospective cohort analysis was performed to determine the impact of neutropenia on the outcome of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HSCT) in patients with myelodysplasia (MDS). Among 291 consecutive patients, 178 (61%) had absolute neutrophil counts (ANCs) <1500/microL and 113 (39%) had ANCs > or =1500/microL within 2 weeks before HSCT. Neutropenic patients more often had poor-risk karyo...

AIM To evaluate a newly developed aspergillus mitochondrial gene PCR-ELISA assay for the early diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in neutropenic patients. METHODS The aspergillus mitochondrial gene was chosen for the amplification target for use with a solution hybridisation assay with colorimetric end stage detection in microtitre plate format (PCR-ELISA). The study group co...

Children with AML become profoundly neutropenic while they undergo remission induction chemotherapy. It is unknown whether these children should be kept in the hospital while they are severely neutropenic to prevent life-threatening complications associated with neutropenia and reduce fatality. We at our institution routinely discharge patients after completing remission induction chemotherapy ...

Traditionally, the patients believed to be at highest risk of invasive aspergillosis (IA) are those who are neutropenic due to chemotherapy for hematological malignancy or those undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, emerging data show that other patients are vulnerable to IA, even though some are not classically immunocompromised. These include: solid organ tra...

Neutropenic enterocolitis is a severe and potentially life-threatening complication that may affect patients undergoing chemotherapy for acute leukemia or lymphoma. These patients may develop systemic sepsis through bacterial or fungal translocation across the intestinal wall. In many cases neutropenic enterocolitis is confined to the cecum, but the entire colon is sometimes involved. Most pati...