title: Causes of death in febrile granulocytopenic cancer patients receiving empiric antibiotic therapy.
abstract: We reviewed the causes of death of 55 granulocytopenic patients who received empiric antibiotic treatment for fever according to an EORTC cooperative protocol; 53 presented cancer and 2 aplastic anemia. Among the 55 patients, 19 (35%) deaths were attributed to infection: 16 to bacterial and 3 to fungal infections. Among the patients with bacterial infections, 12 died from septic shock, 3 from pneumonia and 1 from Pseudomonas aeruginosa meningitis. The most frequent non-infectious causes of death were the cancer progression (18%) and hemorrhagic complications (27%), most often cerebromeningeal in relationship to thrombocytopenia. A large number of the patients who died from infection (78%) and hemorrhage (74%) had advanced cancer with poor chances to respond to anticancer therapy.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000380:Agranulocytosis / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D012772:Shock, Septic / Q000401:mortality
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents