Results from a retrospective study have shown that prophylactic treatment with doxycycline and ciprofloxacin reduces the incidence of infection in myeloma patients following an autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT), when compared to treatment with ciprofloxacin alone.
Published in Supportive Cancer Care, the results show that 53% of patients receiving ciprofloxacin alone developed neutropenic fever compared to 36% of patients receiving ciprofloxacin and doxycycline. Furthermore, 11% of patients receiving ciprofloxacin alone experienced bacteremic episodes, compared to 4.7% of patients also receiving doxycycline.
The researchers suggest that these findings, if confirmed, may lead to a change in strategy for preventing infections in this group of patients.