Neutropenia

Chemotherapy-induced neutropenia is a common adverse effect in children with cancer, yet there are less serious causes of febrile neutropenia for which extended in-hospital treatment might be unnecessary.

Recent analysis supports the potential importance of using biosimiliars of granulocyte colony stimulating factor to manage neutropenia affecting post-chemotherapy and post-op patients.

Updated guidelines on the use of colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) in people with cancer address the strengths and limitations of the use of CSFs, which reduce the risk of neutropenia.

A new study found the prevalence of neutropenia in routine complete blood cell counts directly associated with viral infections, hematological malignancies, and mortality.

While there are no significant differences in the results between filgrastim and tbo-filgrastim in a clinical setting, tbo-filgrastim offers significant cost savings over filgrastim.

Data from 2 large studies of patients with metastatic disease who underwent myelosuppressive chemotherapy found that febrile neutropenia occurred in approximately 13% to 21% of patients. Associated costs of febrile neutropenia were found to range from $16,000 to $19,000 per episode for most hospitalized patients.

A study comparing the efficacy of tbo-filgrastim with filgrastim when used to mobilize peripheral blood stem cells or to accelerate engraftment after autologous stem cell transplantation found no clinically meaningful differences, plus tbo-filgrastim saved money.

In an effort to address safety concerns regarding severe neutropenia, the FDA has made changes to requirements for monitoring prescribing, dispensing, and receiving the schizophrenia medicine clozapine.

Project to research better way to treat neutropenia is 1 of 5 to get latest funding from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.