Clinical practice guidelines for the use of colony-stimulating factors in cancer treatment: Implications for oncology nurses

Kearney N and Friese C Eur J Oncol Nurs 2008

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18291720

 

The main purpose of this article was to introduce oncology nurses to the guidelines issued by the following organisations: American Society of Clinical Oncolog (ASCO), European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). The article also discussed the role of oncology nurses on how to use and implement these guidelines in daily practice and to review their contribution to improve patient outcomes. The use of prophylactic colony-stimulating factor (CSF) not only reduced the risk of febrile neutropenia (FN) and FN-related hospitalisations and therefore showed considerable economic benefit, but also improved outcome in a variety of cancer patients. The ASCO, EORTC, and NCCN guidelines uniformly recommended primary prophylaxis with CSFs when the chosen chemotherapy regimen is associated with a high risk of FN (›20%). Treatment-, patient-, and disease-related factors should be considered by nurses as well, especially if the FN risk of the chosen chemotherapy regimen itself is intermediate (10-20%). Guidelines may help to simplify decision-making on the use of CSFs for oncology nurses, increase nursing surveillanc and support uniformity in the care of cancer patients and therefore improve patient outcomes.