Presenters: Dr Francoise Mechinaud and Dr Gabrielle Haeusler

Synopsis: Febrile neutropenia is a frequent complication during the treatment of childhood cancer. It occurs in up to half of patients with solid tumours and more than 80% of those with hematological malignancies. The management of febrile neutropenia generally involves admission to hospital for parenteral, broad-spectrum antibiotics. However children with febrile neutropenia are a heterogeneous group with varying risks of severe infection and medical complications. Francoise and Gabrielle will discuss the latest recommendations for the management of febrile neutropenia with particular emphasis on the importance of risk assessment. They will also present local data which have prompted changes to RCH febrile neutropenia guidelines.

Speakers:

Francoise Mechinaud is a pediatric oncologist with main interest in leukemia and hematopoietic Stem Cell transplant. She did part of her training with the  NCI infectious disease team  at NIH under the supervision of Phil Pizzo.

Gabrielle Haeusler is an advanced trainee in paediatric infectious diseases and is the current infectious diseases fellow at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. She has an interest in the prevention and management of infections in the immunocompromised host. In 2012 she worked within the oncology department at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. During this time she revised the paediatric febrile neutropenia guidelines for Victoria.

Presented: May 9, 2012