ABSTRACT
Infection has been recognized as one of the major obstacles to the successful management of
patients with malignant tumors (1). Infection is often suspected in patients with solid tumors
who develop fever, especially when associated with neutropenia. Although most infections in
febrile neutropenic patients with malignancy are related to systemic infections (1), in a large
proportion of patients, no obvious source of infection is discovered. It is possible that infection
in the tumor mass accounts for a proportion of these febrile episodes. Although the occurrence
of infection in necrotic tumor mass has been recognized, the microbiology of infected tumors is
not well established.
