Multinational cooperation in trials and guidelines dealing with febrile neutropenia

Multinational cooperation has lead to many of the advances in the therapy of cancer patients with febrile neutropenia over the last two decades and will likely continue to do so. Some of the groups and societies that have contributed to this success include the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Antimicrobial Group, The Immunocompromised Host Society (ICHS), the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) infection subcommittee and the International Disease Society of America (IDSA). Some of these contributions are described in this manuscript. Without this approach the data from single institutions may not have been so well accepted in centers all over the world. Multinational cooperation in this field along with better antimicrobials have contributed significantly to the drop in mortality in 'high risk patients' from >50% in the 1950s and 1960s to 5-10% noted in most recently published studies.