Piperacillin/tazobactam versus cefozopran for the empirical treatment of pediatric cancer patients with febrile neutropenia.

Author(s): Ichikawa M, Suzuki D, Ohshima J, Cho Y, Kaneda M, Iguchi A, Ariga T.

Affiliation(s): Department of Pediatrics, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan. mi@v007.vaio.ne.jp

Publication date & source: 2011, Pediatr Blood Cancer. , 57(7):1159-62

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of piperacillin/tazobactam (PIP/TAZO) and cefozopran (CZOP) monotherapy in pediatric cancer patients with febrile neutropenia (FN). PROCEDURE: A total of 119 febrile episodes in 49 neutropenic pediatric cancer patients (20 females and 29 males) with a median age of 6.8 years (range, 0.3-18.4 years) received randomized treatment either with PIP/TAZO 125 mg/kg every 8 hr or CZOP 25 mg/kg every 6 hr. Clinical response was determined at completion of therapy. Durations of fever and neutropenia, the need for modification of the therapy, and mortality rates were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The frequency of success without modification of treatment was not significantly different between PIP/TAZO (59.6%) and CZOP (53.2%). Durations of fever and antibiotic therapy did not differ between the treatment groups, and no major side effects were observed in either group. CONCLUSIONS: PIP/TAZO and CZOP monotherapy were both effective and safe for the initial empirical treatment of pediatric cancer patients with FN.