Should to all patients with febrile neutropenia and colonization with extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae carbapenems be appointed?

Objectives. The objective of this study was to evaluate epidemiology of febrile events (FE) and efficacy of antibiotic treatment in neutropenic patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with and without colonization of gut by extended-spectrum β-lactamaseproducing Enterobacteriacae (ESBL-E). Materials and methods. The prospective study (2013–2015) included 66 patients with AML. These patients received 208 chemotherapy cycles within 6 month. Rectal swabs were obtained from all patients prior to antibiotic administration. ESBL-E were isolated on chromogenic ESBL selective medium CHROMagarТМESBL (CHROMagar, France) and confirmed by double disk synergy test. Results. FE occurred in 193 (93 %) of chemotherapy cycles. The analysis was performed in 173 FE, including 68 – with colonization and 105 – without colonization with ESBL-E. Epidemiology of FE was similar in patients colonized by ESBL-E and non-carriers group, except cases of bacteremia, caused by ESBL-E that occurred only in patients colonized by the same bacteria (7.5 %; p = 0.009). Patients colonized by ESBL-E and non-carriers had comparable efficacy of first-line non-carbapenem regimens (38 % vs 44 %), rate of carbapenem administration (62 % vs 55 %), efficacy of carbapenems alone (36 % vs 52 %) and in combination (64 % vs 41 %), duration of all antibiotics (14 days vs 13 days) and carbapenems (10 days vs 10 days). All cases of bacteremia caused by ESBL-E were successfully treated by carbapenems. Conclusion. Colonization of gut with ESBL-E is a predictor of bacteremia caused by the same bacteria. There were no differences in the use of antibiotics in patients colonized by ESBL-E and non-carriers group.