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Comparison of two oral regimens for the outpatient treatment of low-risk cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and fever: Ciprofloxacin plus cefuroxime axetil versus ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin/clavulanate

The objective of this investigation was to assess retrospectively the safety and the efficacy of oral ciprofloxacin plus cefuroxime axetil compared to the combination of oral ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin/clavulanate, as initial outpatient treatment, in low-risk cancer patients with fever and neutropenia. We analysed retrospectively 120 episodes of febrile neutropenia, treated on an outpatient basis at 2 different oncology units; 63 episodes were treated with the oral regimen of ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin/clavulanate and 57 were treated with the combination of oral ciprofloxacin plus cefuroxime. 20 treatment failures were recorded–2 of them among patients receiving ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin/clavulanate and 18 in the ciprofloxacin plus cefuroxime group. Univariate analysis showed that the administration of ciprofloxacin plus cefuroxime was associated with a worse outcome compared to the regimen ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin/clavulanate (OR 11, CI 2.42–49.9, p =0.002). In the multivariate model, after adjusting for the absolute number of neutrophils and the duration of neutropenia, the effect of the antibiotic regimen on the outcome disappeared, and no significant differences between the 2 regimens were noted, although the regimen of ciprofloxacin plus cefuroxime was associated with a trend to a worse outcome (OR 4.74, CI 0.72–31.1, p =0.10). In conclusion, the 2 regimens appeared equally safe and effective but prospective studies are needed to confirm these results.