Clinical Verification on the Predictors for Febrile Neutropenia in Breast Cancer Patients Treated With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

Febrile neutropenia (FN) is a potentially life-threatening complication of chemotherapy. In this study, we evaluated the predictors for FN according to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in all breast cancer subtypes.We examined 327 patients with breast cancer treated with NAC. The correlation between the development of FN and clinicopathological features, including systemic inflammatory markers, and prognosis was evaluated retrospectively.There were no significant differences between patients with and without FN in terms of disease-free survival or overall survival (p=0.562, p=0.149, log-rank, respectively). Low body mass index (BMI) (p<0.001), white blood cells (WBC) at baseline (p=0.008), and NAC regimen (p=0.026) significantly related with FN in all patients with breast cancer. Moreover, among patients with hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive breast cancer, low WBC (p=0.007) and low absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC) at baseline (p=0.039) were significantly associated with FN, and overall survival was significantly worse in patients with FN development (p=0.039, log-rank).Poor immune activity-related factors, low ALC or BMI, may be useful to predict the development of FN in patients with breast cancer.