Blood cultures are part of the standard work-up of patients with febrile neutropenia, but it is not clear how often they affect treatment management. In this large cohort of 126 patients with febrile neutropenia who had 2520 blood cultures, 9% were positive (14% in patients without prior antibiotics and 7% in patients receiving antibiotics). Of these, 78% were gram-positive, 21% were gram-negative, and <1% were fungal. The antibiotics were modified after the results half the time, indicating that blood cultures do affect management in a small, but significant, number of patients with febrile neutropenia (abstract).
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