Australian guidelines for neutropenic fever recommend piperacillin/tazobactam (PIP-TAZ) or cefepime for first-line empiric treatment of neutropenic fever. We compared outcomes among haematology patients before and after changing our first-line neutropenic fever treatment from imipenem to PIP-TAZ. Forty-five patients received imipenem and 60 PIP-TAZ. Despite a higher rate of antibiotic modification in the PIP-TAZ cohort, treatment success and time to defervescence were similar, with a trend towards fewer Clostridium difficile infections in the PIP-TAZ cohort.
Keywords: imipenem; neutropenia; piperacillin; sepsis; tazobactam.
© 2013 The Authors; Internal Medicine Journal © 2013 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.