Authors' objectives: Neutropenic sepsis, or infection that develops in the setting of a low white blood cell count, is a potentially life-threatening complication of chemotherapy treatment in patients with cancer. As the amount of chemotherapy given in the UK has increased significantly in recent years the frequency of this complication has also increased. There is widespread recognition that this condition requires immediate hospital assessment and prompt antibiotic treatment to avoid serious complications, however, there is less agreement about how best to manage patients thereafter. Several bedside clinical risk scores have been developed which aim to categorise patients depending on their risk of complications. The ability to identify patients at low risk offers the opportunity to avoid unnecessary treatment and hospital stay which disadvantages both patients and the NHS. We propose a randomised trial of patients at low risk of complications, identified using a previously validated risk score, to evaluate whether changing from intravenous to oral antibiotics on the first day of treatment is clinically and cost-effective in comparison with standard longer duration intravenous antibiotics.

Project Status: Ongoing

URL for project: http://www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/projects/hta/1314005

Anticipated Publish Date: 2021

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: England, United Kingdom

Organisation Name: NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme

Contact Address: NIHR Journals Library, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, Alpha House, University of Southampton Science Park, Southampton SO16 7NS, UK

Contact Name: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk

Contact Email: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk

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