Rater

Abstract

e20678 Background: Management of neutropenic fever is based on risk stratification of the episode which helps in optimizing treatment. MASCC is the most commonly used for risk stratification Patients with a score of > 21 were regarded as low risk; patients with a score of <21 were regarded as high risk. We tried to validate the MASCC index for our ethnic population. Methods: Patients were recruited throughout a 12 month period. Inclusion criteria were diagnosis of hematolymphoid malignancy, neutropenic febrile episode secondary to chemotherapy or during induction therapy of acute leukemia and more than 18 years of age All patients were risk stratified, hospitalized and treated with broad-spectrum, empiric, intravenous antibiotic therapy until recovery or outcome of the event. The incidence of medical complications in both groups and death related to the neutropenic infection was recorded. The data was entered on SPSS software and MASCC criteria was analyzed for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV). Results: A total of 81 febrile neutropenic episodes were included; 34 classified as low risk and 47 as high risk according to MASCC risk index score. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of MASCC risk index score were 45.5%, 40%, 11%, 82%, 40.7%. We subsequently analyzed the subset of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) patients as they were the majority comprising of 62/81 episodes. The subset of AML patients risk stratified according to MASCC risk index showed sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of 71%, 25.5%, 11%, 87.5%, 31% respectively. Conclusions: In our patient group, the value of MASCC score is limited with poor sensitivity, specificity and PPV. This trend is also seen in the subset analysis of AML patients. The value of the MASCC index with the score of 21 as the cut-off between low risk and high risk seems limited in our patients and requires confirmation with larger set of patients. No significant financial relationships to disclose.