ABSTRACT
Patients with cancer develop infection far more often than individuals without cancer.1 The function of the immune system is a major factor in determining the frequency and nature of infection, and the overall response to therapy, once an infection has developed. Patients with hematologic malignancies or aplastic anemia and those receiving immunosuppressive therapy following bone marrow transplantation often have prolonged periods of neutropenia, defects in phagocytosis, and impaired cellular and/or humoral immunity – each associated with an increased frequency and a distinct spectrum of infection. In contrast, most patients with solid tumors are not significantly immunosuppressed, but are predisposed towards infection as a result of damage to normal anatomic barriers such as the skin and mucosal surfaces, obstructive phenomena (e.g. lung carcinoma and biliary and pancreatic tumors), procedures such as surgery and radiation, central nervous system dysfunction, and the use of medical devices such as shunts, catheters, and prostheses. Although chemotherapy-induced neutropenia does occur in patients with solid tumors, it is often shortlived, does not have the same impact as it does in patients with hematologic malignancies, and
is associated with a lower frequency or risk of developing infection.
