News Details
NCCN Updates Infection Guidelines to Include Information about H1N1 Virus (Swine flu)
NCCN recently updated the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ for the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer-Related Infections to include information about the H1N1 virus, also known as “swine flu”. The NCCN Guidelines provide specific recommendations on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the major common and opportunistic infections that afflict patients with cancer.
August 5, 2009
FORT WASHINGTON, PA — Infectious diseases are important causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. In certain cases, the malignancy itself can predispose patients to severe or recurrent infections. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recognizes the importance of providing the latest information on treating these infections and has developed the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ for the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer-Related Infections. The NCCN Guidelines were recently updated to include information about the effect that the H1N1 virus, or “swine flu”, may have on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer treatment-related infections.
The NCCN Guidelines on Prevention and Treatment of Cancer-Related Infections characterize the major categories of immunologic deficits in persons with cancer and the major pathogens to which they are susceptible. Specific recommendations are provided on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the major common and opportunistic infections that afflict patients with cancer.
The H1N1 reference is located in the section of the NCCN Guidelines that lists recommendations for treating lung infiltrates in febrile neutropenic patients. The updated NCCN Guidelines note that certain tests and antiviral treatments that are effective in more common strains of influenza and viruses may not be applicable to the H1N1 strain as well as other seasonal or pandemic strains.
Additional noteworthy updates to the NCCN Guidelines include the addition of doripenem (Doribax®, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) to the Antibacterial Agents Tables and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Viread®, Gilead Sciences, Inc.) to the Antiviral Agents Tables.
NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ are developed and updated through an evidence-based process with explicit review of the scientific evidence integrated with expert judgment by multidisciplinary panels of physicians from NCCN Member Institutions. The most recent version of this and all the NCCN Guidelines are available free of charge at NCCN.org.