Journal article

Diagnostic Yield of Initial and Consecutive Blood Cultures in Children with Cancer and Febrile Neutropenia

GM Haeusler, R De Abreu Lourenco, H Clark, KA Thursky, MA Slavin, FE Babl, F Mechinaud, F Alvaro, J Clark, B Padhye, M Phillips, L Super, H Tapp, T Walwyn, D Ziegler, R Phillips, LJ Worth

Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society | OXFORD UNIV PRESS | Published : 2021

Abstract

Background: The timing and necessity of repeated blood cultures (BCs) in children with cancer and febrile neutropenia (FN) are unknown. We evaluated the diagnostic yield of BCs collected pre- and post-empiric FN antibiotics. Methods: Data collected prospectively from the Australian Predicting Infectious ComplicatioNs in Children with Cancer (PICNICC) study were used. Diagnostic yield was calculated as the number of FN episodes with a true bloodstream infection (BSI) detected divided by the number of FN episodes that had a BC taken. Results: A BSI was identified in 13% of 858 FN episodes. The diagnostic yield of pre-antibiotic BCs was higher than of post-antibiotic cultures (12.3% vs 4.4%, P ..

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