Docetaxel induced febrile neutropenia (FN) is a common adverse event encountered by breast cancer patients worldwide, especially among Asian patients. We aim to evaluate incidence of FN in breast cancer patients receiving docetaxel in Malaysia. We retrospectively reviewed the records from patients with breast cancer who received docetaxel in a university-hospital. The incidence of FN, length of hospital stay, incidence of ICU admission, incidence and grade of neutropenia were evaluated. Among 237 breast cancer patients, incidence of FN was 14.34% (34 patients). Mean length of hospital stay was 9.28 days (2 to 94 days). Two patients (0.84%) required admission to the ICU with the length of stay being 4 and 60 days respectively. Incidences of neutropenia are 27.8% (grade 1), 0.8% (grade 2), 1.69% (grade 3) and 0.4% (grade 4). The incidence of febrile neutropenia due to docetaxel was higher among this population. This data may help to determine the optimal dose of docetaxel in breast cancer patients.
Drug Therapy