{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]],"date-time":"2026-10-22T15:16:55Z","timestamp":1792682215641,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,25]],"date-time":"2022-07-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1658707200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diagnostics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Infectious diseases are associated with a high morbidity and mortality rate among pediatric cancer patients undergoing treatment or receiving a transplant. Neutropenia represents a potentially fatal complication of cancer treatment and is associated with a high risk of developing bacterial infections. Although febrile neutropenia (FN) can affect both adults and children, the latter has a higher chance of infections with an unknown origin. Prompt empiric broad-spectrum antibiotic administration is collectively considered the best therapeutic approach. This review aims to analyze the latest works from the literature regarding the therapeutic strategies, schemes, and approaches and the efficacy of these in pediatric febrile neutropenia. Following PRISMA guidelines, an advanced search on PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane Library, using the keywords \u201cfebrile neutropenia\u201d, \u201cpediatric\u201d, \u201ccancer\u201d, and \u201concology\u201d, was performed. A total of 197 articles were found to be eligible. After screening the abstracts and excluding unfit studies, 16 articles were analyzed. There were eight retrospective studies, five prospective studies, and two clinical trials. Altogether, these studies have described around 5000 episodes of FN. The median age of the participants was 7.6 years, and the underlying condition for most of them was acute leukemia. The infectious agent could only be determined in around one-fifth of cases, from which 90% were of bacterial origin. As such, empirical broad-spectrum antibiotics are used, with the most used treatment scheme comprising third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins and antipseudomonal penicillins. In order to improve the treatment strategies of FN episodes and to successfully de-escalate treatments toward narrower-spectrum antibiotics, hospitals and clinics should increase their efforts in identifying the underlying cause of FN episodes through blood culture urine culture and viral tests, wherever infrastructure enables it.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diagnostics12081800","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,25]],"date-time":"2022-07-25T21:20:59Z","timestamp":1658784059000},"page":"1800","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":38,"title":["Diagnosis and Management of Febrile Neutropenia in Pediatric Oncology Patients\u2014A Systematic Review"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Estera","family":"Boeriu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Oncology and Haematology, \u201cLouis Turcanu\u201d Emergency Clinical Hospital for Children, Iosif Nemoianu Street 2, 300011 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5076-1519","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexandra","family":"Borda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oncology and Haematology, \u201cLouis Turcanu\u201d Emergency Clinical Hospital for Children, Iosif Nemoianu Street 2, 300011 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1046-7272","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dan Dumitru","family":"Vulcanescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Multidisciplinary Research Center on Antimicrobial Resistance (MULTI-REZ), Microbiology Department, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vlad","family":"Sarbu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Multidisciplinary Research Center on Antimicrobial Resistance (MULTI-REZ), Microbiology Department, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Smaranda Teodora","family":"Arghirescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ovidiu","family":"Ciorica","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Business Administration and Economics Faculty, West University of Timisoara, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Street 16, 300115 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4711-4315","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Felix","family":"Bratosin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Methodological and Infectious Diseases Research Center, Department of Infectious Diseases, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Iosif","family":"Marincu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Methodological and Infectious Diseases Research Center, Department of Infectious Diseases, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6133-0204","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Florin George","family":"Horhat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Multidisciplinary Research Center on Antimicrobial Resistance (MULTI-REZ), Microbiology Department, \u201cVictor Babes\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e270","DOI":"10.1016\/S1470-2045(20)30725-7","article-title":"8th European Conference on Infections in Leukaemia: 2020 guidelines for the use of antibiotics in paediatric patients with cancer or post-haematopoietic cell transplantation","volume":"22","author":"Lehrnbecher","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet Oncol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mohammed, H.B., Yismaw, M.B., Fentie, A.M., and Tadesse, T.A. 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