Cruciani, M., Rampazzo, R., Malena, M., Lazzarini, L., Todeschini, G., Messori, A., & Concia, E. (1996). Prophylaxis with fluoroquinolones for bacterial infections in neutropenic patients: A meta-analysis. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 23, 795–805.
DATABASES USED: MEDLINE was searched for literature published from January 1984–October 1994. Current Contents also was used, as were the bibliographies from MEDLINE articles.
KEYWORDS: Key words used in the search were neutropenia/agranulocytosis and bacterial infections.
INCLUSION CRITERIA: Eligible studies were randomized, controlled trials with fluoroquinolones alone or in combination with gram-positive prophylaxis in granulocytopenic patients receiving chemotherapy for cancer.
Prophylaxis with fluoroquinolones alone was shown to significantly reduce the frequency of gram-negative bacteremia. No significant difference was found in terms of gram-positive bacteremia or infection-related mortality. Fluoroquinolone with gram-positive prophylaxis significantly reduced the frequency of gram-positive bacteremia. Fever-related morbidity and infection-related mortality were not affected. Of note, the majority of the studies (four of six) used fluoroquinolone alone in the control group.