This study intends to identify the epidemiology, resistance patterns, and antibiotic usage patterns for infectious diseases in febrile neutropenic patients based on Korean data, and to develop the guidelines for empirical treatment of febrile neutropenic patients in line with domestic circumstances through interdisciplinary joint research and a review of foreign literatures.

A treatment guideline development committee was organized under the initiative of the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency with methodology specialist and experts recommended by 8 academic societies: Korean Society of Infectious Diseases, Korean Society for immunocompromised Host Infections, Korean Cancer Association, Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology, Korean Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Korean Society of Hematology, Korean Society for Chemotherapy, and Korean Association for Clinical Oncology.

The Key questions were selected in the areas of the definition of neutropenic fever, initial evaluation and infection risks, antibiotic prophylaxis, initial antibiotic therapy for febrile neutropenic patients, re-evaluation after 3-5 days and change of antibiotics, the use of glycopeptide, catheter-related infection in febrile neutropenic patients, and the use of antifungal agents. Agreement was reached through systematic review of the literatures and discussion in subcommittee.