TY - JOUR
T1 - Economic aspects of empiric antibiotic therapy for febrile neutropenia in children with cancer
AU - Castagnola, Elio
AU - Paola, Dimitri
AU - Giacchino, Raffaella
AU - Rossi, Rossella
AU - Viscoli, Claudio
PY - 1998/11
Y1 - 1998/11
N2 - Several antibiotic regimens have been proposed worldwide for empiric treatment of febrile neutropenia in children with cancer, but none of them shows clear advantages in terms of clinical efficacy. Therefore, other parameters, including drug acquisition costs, should be considered in the selection of treatment. Children receive a 'fraction' of a standard daily dose, and this fraction is generally calculated on the basis of body weight; therefore, the cost of each day of therapy is determined by the packages available for each single drug. We calculated the acquisition costs of various drugs proposed for the empiric treatment of febrile neutropenia in children with cancer, and then we estimated the daily cost of therapy referred to different patient weights. In general, the combination regimen with ceftriaxone plus aminoglycoside turned out to be less expensive than other regimens (including monotherapy with third-generation cephalosporins or carbapenems).
AB - Several antibiotic regimens have been proposed worldwide for empiric treatment of febrile neutropenia in children with cancer, but none of them shows clear advantages in terms of clinical efficacy. Therefore, other parameters, including drug acquisition costs, should be considered in the selection of treatment. Children receive a 'fraction' of a standard daily dose, and this fraction is generally calculated on the basis of body weight; therefore, the cost of each day of therapy is determined by the packages available for each single drug. We calculated the acquisition costs of various drugs proposed for the empiric treatment of febrile neutropenia in children with cancer, and then we estimated the daily cost of therapy referred to different patient weights. In general, the combination regimen with ceftriaxone plus aminoglycoside turned out to be less expensive than other regimens (including monotherapy with third-generation cephalosporins or carbapenems).
KW - Economic evaluation
KW - Empiric antibiotic therapy
KW - Febrile neutropenia
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U2 - 10.1007/s005200050208
DO - 10.1007/s005200050208
M3 - Article
C2 - 9833301
AN - SCOPUS:0031797848
VL - 6
SP - 524
EP - 528
JO - Supportive Care in Cancer
JF - Supportive Care in Cancer
SN - 0941-4355
IS - 6
ER -