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.

• FINAL NUMBER STUDIES INCLUDED = 19
• KEY SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS: The majority of patients had hematologic malignancies. Patients with solid tumor were included in six of the studies.

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.