Comprehensive Review of Febrile Neutropenia
The condition represents a medical emergency because the compromised immune system lacks the capacity to mount a robust defense against typically harmless pathogens, allowing a rapidly progressing and overwhelming infection that can quickly lead to septic shock and multi-organ failure if not promptly managed.
The risk for FN is directly correlated with the severity and duration of neutropenia, which is itself a consequence of myelosuppression induced by the chemotherapy regimen. Initial management is time-critical and involves immediate, broad-spectrum, intravenous empiric antibiotic therapy, often within the first hour of diagnosis, even before the causative organism is identified, given that bacterial infections are the most common cause.
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