Treatments are available to prevent and manage chemotherapy-induced infections and significant progress has been made in the development of "proactive" therapies to help manage side effects of chemotherapy. Guidelines developed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) state that recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (G-CSFs) are available to treat or prevent neutropenia and therefore reduce associated complications. This is reflected in 54 percent of nurse survey respondents who confirmed using G-CSFs prophylactically to prevent febrile neutropenia in patients receiving chemotherapy. An additional 27 percent of nurses reported using both G-CSFs and antibiotics.
However, 85 percent of nurse respondents expressed concerns regarding patients' concordance to treatment. Moreover, it was reported by patients in the survey that access to and provision of treatments that prevent infection varies widely across Europe.
"Up to 1 in 10 patients hospitalised with febrile neutropenia might die as a result of it - this is a serious condition and it is vital that patients are provided with information about their risk of neutropenia and developing an infection, as a result of their chemotherapy," said Dr. Matti S. Aapro, Director, Multidisciplinary Oncology Institute, Genolier, Switzerland. "The prevention of neutropenia offers patients the possibility to continue with their chemotherapy schedule uninterrupted, increasing the probability of a more successful treatment outcome. G-CSFs, administered once per chemotherapy cycle, may encourage patient compliance if used prophylactically," he added.
A significant number of patient respondents did not appear to fully understand their risk of developing febrile neutropenia. Conversely, 97 percent of nurses questioned stated that they discuss the personal risks of getting an infection/febrile neutropenia with patients sometime before, during or after their chemotherapy, which suggests a need for improvement in communication between patients and their healthcare providers.
The Preventing Febrile Neutropenia - Staying on Track with Chemotherapy survey was conducted by PatientView in collaboration with the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS), and is sponsored by Amgen. This research is representative of the company's ongoing efforts to assess better ways to reduce neutropenia and its consequences in patients with cancer.
SOURCE Amgen; The European Oncology Nursing Society