Perfil clínico y microbiológico de niños con neutropenia febril posterior a tratamientos antineoplásicos tratados en una institución hospitalaria de Medellín (Colombia), 2009-2010: Estudio de serie de casos

Objective : to describe the clinical and microbiological profile of children with febrile neutropenia past to anti-cancer treatments, at an institution in Medellin. Materials and methods : retrospective descriptive study which included the medical histories of 34 pe - diatric patients with antineoplastic therapy, febrile neutropenia and infectious episodes. The information was collected in a form where there were socio-demographic, clinical and paraclinical variables. Research included approval of the Ethics Committee. The program SPSS ® version 19.0 was used for processing the information obtained, and its analysis. Results : the average age of the first episode was 5.2 ±2 years. 50% of the cases were female. The most frequent clinical findings were tachycardia, vomiting, and diarrhea. Statistically significant differences were observed in the count of total leukocytes and neutrophils; the first with a tendency to decline between episodes, while neutrophils were increased from the first to the second episode, and reduction during the third one. The main sources of infection were the oral mucosa (15,9%), gastroin - testinal tract (15,9%) and lung (11,1%). Staphylococcus were the etiological agents most frequently reported with a 12,8% of the total number of episodes. Conclusion : febrile neutropenia secondary to anti-cancer treatments, predisposes to various infec - tious diseases of variable etiology, developing a wide symptomatology and impacting on the health of patients.