Appendix 1. List of included randomized controlled trials.
1. Agaoglu L, Devecioglu O, Anak S et al. Cost-effectiveness of cefepime + netilmicinor ceftazidime + amikacin or meropenem monotherapy infebrile neutropenic children with malignancy in Turkey. J Chemother 2001;13:281–7.
2. Ahmed N, EI-Mahallawy HA, Ahmed IA, et al. Early hospital discharge versus continued hospitalization in febrile pediatric cancer patients with prolonged neutropenia: a randomized, prospective study. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2007;
49:786–92.
3. Akova M, Akan H, Korten V, et al. Comparison of meropenem with amikacin plus ceftazidime in the empirical treatment of febrile neutropenia: a prospective randomised multicentre trial in patients without previous prophylactic antibiotics.
Meropenem Study Group of Turkey. Int J Antimicrob Agents 1999; 13:15–9.
4. Aksoylar S, Cetingül N, Kantar M, et al. Meropenem plus amikacin versus piperacillin-tazobactam plus netilmicin as empiric therapy for high-risk febrile neutropenia in children. Pediatr Hematol Oncol 2004; 21:115-23.
5. Aparicio J, Oltra A, Llorca C, et al. Randomised comparison of ceftazidime and imipenem as initial monotherapy for febrile episodes in neutropenic cancer patients. Eur J Cancer 1996; 32:1739-43.
6. Au E, Tow A, Allen DM, et al. Randomised study comparing imipenem/cilastatin to ceftriaxone plus gentamicin in cancer chemotherapy-induced neutropenic fever.
Ann Acad Med Singapore 1994; 23:819–22.
7. Behre G, Link H, Maschmeyer G, et al. Meropenem monotherapy versus combination therapy with ceftazidime and amikacin for empirical treatment of febrile neutropenic patients. Ann Hematol 1998; 76:73–80.
8. Biron P, Fuhrmann C, Cure H, et al. Cefepime versus imipenem-cilastatin as empirical monotherapy in 400 febrile patients with short duration neutropenia.
CEMIC (Study Group of Infectious Diseases in Cancer). J Antimicrob Chemother 1998; 42:511-8.
9. Bodey G, Abisaid D, Rolston K, et al. Imipenem or cefoperazone-sulbactam combined with vancomycin for therapy of presumed or proven infection in
neutropenic cancer patients. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis, 1996; 15:625-34.
10. Cherif H, Björkholm M, Engervall P, et al. A prospective, randomized study comparing cefepime and imipenem-cilastatin in the empirical treatment of febrile neutropenia in patients treated for haematological malignancies. Scand J Infect Dis, 2009; 36:593-600.
11. Cometta A, Calandra T, Gaya H, et al. Monotherapy with meropenem versus combination therapy with ceftazidime plus amikacin as empiric therapy for fever in granulocytopenic patients with cancer. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1996;
40:1108–15.
12. Cornelissen JJ, de Graeff A, Verdonck LF, et al. Imipenem versus gentamicin combined with either cefuroxime or cephalothin as initial therapy for febrile neutropenic patients. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1992; 36:801–7.
13. de la Cámara R, Figuera A, Sureda A, et al. Meropenem versus ceftazidime plus amikacin in the treatment of febrile episodes in neutropenic patients: a randomized study. Haematologica 1997; 82:668–75.
14. Duzova A, Kutluk T, Kanra G, et al. Monotherapy with meropenem versus combination therapy with piperacillin plus amikacin as empiric therapy for neutropenic fever in children with lymphoma and solid tumors. Turk J Pediatr 2001; 43:105–9.
15. Erjavec Z, de Vries-Hospers HG, van Kamp H, et al. Comparison of imipenem versus cefuroxime plus tobramycin as empirical therapy for febrile granulocytopenic patients and efficacy of vancomycin and aztreonam in case of failure. Scand J Infect Dis 1994; 26:585–95.
16. Feld R, DePauw B, Berman S, et al. Meropenem versus ceftazidime in the treatment of cancer patients with febrile neutropenia: a randomized, double-blind trial. J Clin Oncol 2000; 18:3690-8.
17. Ferdosian F, Ghiliyan R, Hashemi A, et al. Comparing the efficacy of ceftazidime and meropenem in treatment of febrile neutropenia in pediatric patients with cancer. Iran J Ped Hematol Oncol 2013; 3:103-7.
18. Fleischhack G, Hartmann C, Simon A, et al. Meropenem versus ceftazidime as
empirical monotherapy in febrile neutropenia of paediatric patients with cancer. J Antimicrob Chemother 2001; 47:841-53.
19. Freifeld AG, Walsh T, Marshall D, et al. Monotherapy for fever and neutropenia in cancer patients: a randomized comparison of ceftazidime versus imipenem. J Clin Oncol 1995; 13:165-76.
20. Fujita M, Matsumoto T, Inoue Y, et al. The efficacy and safety of cefepime or meropenem in the treatment of febrile neutropenia in patients with lung cancer. A randomized phase II study. J Infect Chemother 2016, 22:235-9.
21. Hung KC, Chiu HH, Tseng YC, et al. Monotherapy with meropenem versus combination therapy with ceftazidime plus amikacin as empirical therapy for neutropenic fever in children with malignancy. J Microbiol Immunol Infect 2003;
36:254–9.
22. Jing Y, Li J, Yuan L, et al. Piperacillin-tazobactam vs. imipenem-cilastatin as empirical therapy in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients with febrile neutropenia. Clin Transplant 2016; 30:263-9.
23. Kliasova G, Savchenko V, Lubimova L, et al. Monotherapy with meropenem versus combination therapy with ceftazidime plus amikacin as empiric therapy for febrile neutropenic bone marrow transplant patients. Proceedings of the 11th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. 2001.
24. Kutluk T, Kurne O, Akyüz C, et al. Cefepime vs. Meropenem as empirical therapy for neutropenic fever in children with lymphoma and solid tumours. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2004; 42:284.
25. Kwon KT, Cheong HS, Rhee JY, et al. Panipenem versus cefepime as empirical monotherapy in adult cancer patients with febrile neutropenia: a prospective randomized trial. Jpn J Clin Oncol 2008; 38:49-55.
26. Laszlo D, Bacci S, Bosi A, et al. Randomized trial comparing netilmicin plus imipenem-cilastatin versus netilmicin plus ceftazidime as empiric therapy for febrile neutropenic bone marrow transplant recipients. J Chemother 1997; 9:95- 101.
27. Leyland MJ, Bayston KF, Cohen J, et al. A comparative study of imipenem versus
piperacillin plus gentamicin in the initial management of febrile neutropenic patients with haematological malignancies. J Antimicrob Chemother 1992;
30:843-54.
28. Liang R, Yung R, Chiu E, et al. Ceftazidime versus imipenem-cilastatin as initial monotherapy for febrile neutropenic patients. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 1990; 34:1336-41.
29. Lindblad R, Rödjer S, Adriansson M, et al. Empiric monotherapy for febrile neutropenia-a randomized study comparing meropenem with ceftazidime. Scand J Infect Dis 1998; 30:237-43.
30. Liu CY, Wang FD. A comparative study of ceftriaxone plus amikacin, ceftazidime plus amikacin and imipenem/cilastatin in the empiric therapy of febrile granulocytopenic cancer patients. Chemotherapy 1989; 35 Suppl 2:16-22.
31. Matsui K, Masuda N, Takada M, et al. A randomized trial comparing imipenem/cilastatine alone with latamoxef plus tobramycin in febrile neutropenic patients with lung cancer. Jpn J Clin Oncol 1991; 21:428–34.
32. Miller JA, Butler T, Beveridge RA, Kales AN, Binder RA,Smith LJ, et al.
Efficacy and tolerability of imipenemcilastatinversus ceftazidime plus tobramycin as empirictherapy of presumed bacterial infection in neutropeniccancer patients.
Clinical Therapeutics 1993; 15:486–99.
33. Nakagawa Y, Suzuki K, Ohta K, et al. Prospective randomized study of cefepime, panipenem, or meropenem monotherapy for patients with hematological disorders and febrile neutropenia. J Infect Chemother 2013; 19:103-11.
34. Nakane T, Tamaki T, Tamura K, et al. Cefozoplan, meropenem, or imipenem- cilastatin versus cefepime as an empirical therapy in high risk febrile neutropenic adult patients: a multicenter prospective randomized trial. Blood 2012; 120, 1037.
35. Nakane T, Tamura K, Hino M, et al. Cefozopran, meropenem, or imipenem- cilastatin compared with cefepime as empirical therapy in febrile neutropenic adult patients: a multicenter prospective randomized trial. J Infect Chemother 2015, 21:16-22.
36. Norrby SR, Vandercam B, Louie T, et al. Imipenem/cilastatin versus amikacin
plus piperacillin in the treatment of infections in neutropenic patients: a prospective, randomized multi-clinic study. Scand J Infect Dis Suppl 1987; 52:65–
78.
37. Oguz A, Karadeniz C, Citak EC, et al. Experience with cefepime versus meropenem as empiric monotherapy for neutropenia and fever in pediatric patients with solid tumors. Pediatr Hematol Oncol 2006; 23:245-53.
38. Ozyilkan O, Yalçintaş U, Başkan S. Imipenem-cilastatin versus sulbactam- cefoperazone plus amikacin in the initial treatment of febrile neutropenic cancer patients. Korean J Intern Med 1999; 14:15-9.
39. Reich G, Cornely OA, Sandherr M, et al. Empirical antimicrobial monotherapy in patients after high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation: a randomised, multicentre trial. Br J Haematol 2005; 130:265-70.
40. Riikonen P. Imipenem compared with ceftazidime plus vancomycin as initial therapy for fever in neutropenic children with cancer. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1991;
10:918-23.
41. Rolston KVI, Berkey P, Bodey GP, et al. A comparison of imipenem to ceftazidime with or without amikacin as empiric therapy in febrile neutropenic patients. Arch Intern Med 1992, 152:283-91.
42. Roohullah A, Moniwa A, Wood C, et al. Imipenem versus piperacillin/tazobactam for empiric treatment of neutropenic fever in adults. Intern Med J 2013; 43:1151- 4.
43. Sano H, Kobayashi R, Suzuki D, et al. A prospective randomized trial comparing piperacillin/tazobactam with meropenem as empirical antibiotic treatment of febrile neutropenic children and adolescents with hematologic and malignant disorders. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2017; 64.
44. Serefhanoglu K, Ersoy Y, Serefhanoglu S, et al. Clinical experience with three combination regimens for the treatment of high-risk febrile neutropenia. Ann Acad Med Singapore 2006; 35:11-6.
45. Sezgin G, Acipayam C, Ozkan A, et al. Meropenem versus piperacillin- tazobactam as empiric therapy for febrile neutropenia in pediatric oncology
patients. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 2014; 15:4549-53.
46. The Meropenem Study Group. Equivalent efficacies of meropenem and ceftazidime as empirical monotherapy of febrile neutropenic patients. J Antimicrob Chemother 1995; 36:185-200.
47. Torfoss D, Fladhagen T, Holte H, et al. Benzylpenicillin plus an aminoglycoside versus meropenem in neutropenic lymphoma and leukaemia patients with a suspected bacterial infection: a randomized, controlled trial. Clin Microbiol Infect 2016; 23:179-87.
48. Vandercam B, Gérain J, Humblet Y, et al. Meropenem versus ceftazidime as empirical monotherapy for febrile neutropenic cancer patients. Ann Hematol 2000; 79:152-7.
49. Vural S, Erdem E, Gulec SG, et al. Imipenem-cilastatin versus piperacillin- tazobactam as monotherapy in febrile neutropenia. Pediatr Int 2010; 52:262-7.
50. Winston D J, Ho W G, Bruckner D A, et al. Beta-lactam antibiotic therapy in febrile granulocytopenic patients. A randomized trial comparing cefoperazone plus piperacillin, ceftazidime plus piperacillin, and imipenem alone. Ann Intern Med 1991; 115:849.