An observational study on the empiric use of cefpirome in febrile neutropenia

The objective of this study was to document the clinical experience of cefpirome use in the treatment of febrile neutropenia in everyday medical practice.

This was an open, non-controlled multicenter study. Patients with fever and neutropenia were started on cefpirome empirically. Response to therapy was evaluated 72 to 96 h after the beginning of treatment. The primary endpoint, clinical response, was classified as: improvement (disappearance of fever and the other signs and symptoms of infection) or failure (the patient died during the therapy or had no response to the antibiotic regimen; i.e., fever persisted and the patient's clinical condition was not improving, requiring a change in antibiotic therapy). The secondary endpoints were time to the resolution of fever and improvement of neutropenia, and microbiological response evaluated on-treatment or post-treatment.

140 patients were enrolled in this study; clinical response was analyzed on the clinically evaluated population after 72 to 96 h of treatment. Among the 69 evaluated patients, 58 patients (84.1%) were improved and 11 patients (15.9%) failed. Overall, among the enrolled 140 patients, 124 patients' clinical outcomes were improved after treatment and 16 patients failed. The mean time to fever resolution was 3.1 days. Mean temperature reduced from a baseline reading of 38.7 degrees C to 37.2 degrees C (p<0.0001). Moreover, the mean neutrophil count (342.7/mm(3) at baseline) increased significantly to 3664/mm(3) (p<0.0001) after 72 to 96 h of treatment. Twenty five pathogens were isolated from 20 patients (13 Gram-positive and 9 Gram-negative). The eradication rate was 72% on-treatment or post-treatment, and the mean time to eradication was 5 days.

Cefpirome improves clinical signs and symptoms of infection and offers improved coverage against some Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens in patients with febrile neutropenia. Thus, cefpirome is likely to be a valuable and cost-effective extended-spectrum agent for the empiric treatment of severe infections.