OPTIMIZING FEBRILE NEUTROPENIA MANAGEMENT AMONG ASIAN CANCER PATIENTS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Febrile neutropenia (FN) is a serious and common complication among cancer patients receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. FN is associated with substantial clinical burden and economic burden on patients. The overall aim of this thesis is to optimize FN management among cancer patients in Singapore, so that the disease burden of FN can be reduced. Specifically, three directions for optimizing FN management were investigated in this thesis, which included (i) encouraging appropriate use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) by using economic evaluations, (ii) using biomarker to guide rational antibiotic usage, and (iii) improving risk assessment for identifying patients with FN who are at low risk of developing serious complications by patient-reported outcome.