Comparative randomized study of protected environment plus oral antibiotics versus oral antibiotics alone in neutropenic patients.

A series of 24 patients with severe neutropenia, most of whom had acute myeloblastic leukemia, were treated in an isolation unit with oral nonabsorbable antibiotics and were compared to 21 similar patients receiving oral antibiotics alone. The frequency of bacterial infections was lower in the patients receiving both isolation and oral antibiotics compared to the patients who received only oral antibiotics. The responses to chemotherapy in terms of remission rates were identical for the two groups.