Absolute neutrophil values in malignant patients on cytotoxic chemotherapy

A total of eighty patients with various malignancies seen between September 2008 and April 2009 at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Ituku Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria, had their absolute neutrophil counts, done at Days 0 and 12 of the first cycle of their various chemotherapeutic regimens. They were adult patients who had been diagnosed of various malignancies, consisting of Breast cancer 36 (45%), Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma 8 (10%), Hodgkin's lymphoma 13 (16.25%), Colorectal carcinoma 6 (7.5%), Multiple myeloma 7 (8.75%), Cervical carcinoma 1 (1.25%) and other malignancies 9 (11.25%), Manual counting of absolute neutrophil count was done using Turks solution and improved Neubauer counting chamber and Galen 2000 Olympus microscope. The socio demographic data of the patients were assessed from a questionnaire. There were 27 males (33.75%) and 53 females (66.25%). Their ages ranged from 18 - 80 years with a median of 45 years. The mean absolute neutrophil count of the respondents pre-and post chemotherapy was 3.7 +/- 2.1 x 10(9)/L and 2.5 +/- 1.6 x 10(9)/L respectively. There were significant differences in both the absolute neutrophil count (p=0.00) compared to the pre-chemotherapy values. Chemotherapeutic combinations containing cyclophosphamide and Adriamycin were observed to cause significant reduction in absolute neutrophil.