Predictive Factors of Febrile Neutropenia Induced by Anticancer Chemotherapy in the South of Tunisia

Introduction: Febrile Neutropenia (FN) secondary to chemotherapy is the most common and the earliest hematological complication. The aim of this work is to study the predictive factors of FN. Materiel and Methods: This is a retrospective study including 186 episodes of FN induced by chemotherapy treated in the department of oncology at Sfax in southern Tunisia during the period between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2010. Result: The mean age of patients was 40 years. One hundred and seventeen patients had solid tumors (86.02%), 18 patients (13.23%) had hematological malignancies and one patient was treated for hypo pharyngeal cancer and aplastic Anemia. Chemotherapy was indicated for curative purpose in 94 cases and palliative purpose in 92 cases. One hundred and four patients (76.5%) had a single episode of FN and 32 (23.5%) had at least two episodes. The average time of febrile neutropenia was 11 days. Conclusion: Personal history of FN, poor performance status, chemotherapy regimen and the stage of the disease increased the risk of FN, with a statistically significant difference. Other factors such as hematological malignancies, the age over 65 years and concurrent chemo radiotherapy were not retained in our series.