Treatment of Febrile Neutropenia and Prophylaxis in Hematologic Malignancies: A Critical Review and Update

Table 1

MASCC score [8].

Clinical parameters	Score^*
Burden of illness: no or mild symptoms^†	5
No hypotension	5
No chronic obstructive pulmonary disease^‡	4
Solid tumour or no previous fungal infection	4
No dehydration	3
Outpatient status	3
Burden of illness: moderate symptoms	3
Patient’s age < 60 years	2

MASCC: Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer.
Scores > 21 indicate a low risk for medical complications.
^*The maximum theoretical score is 26.
^†Burden of FN refers to the general clinical status of the patient as influenced by the febrile neutropenic episode. It should be evaluated on the following scale: no or mild symptoms (score of 5), moderate symptoms (score of 3), and severe symptoms or moribund (score of 0). Scores of 3 and 5 are not cumulative.
^‡Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease means active chronic bronchitis, emphysema, decrease in forced expiratory volumes, or need for oxygen therapy and/or steroids and/or bronchodilators requiring treatment at the presentation of the febrile neutropenic episode.
Previous fungal infection means demonstrated fungal infection or empirically treated suspected fungal infection.