The Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) risk index score: 10 years of use for identifying low-risk febrile neutropenic cancer patients

Support Care Cancer. 2013 May;21(5):1487-95. doi: 10.1007/s00520-013-1758-y. Epub 2013 Feb 27.

Abstract

The Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer risk index score developed, through a multinational collaboration, was published in 2000 with the aim to identify patients with chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia at low risk of serious medical complication development. It has been endorsed as a reliable tool since 2002 by Infectious Diseases Society of America. Ten years after, we thought worth to review its use, its characteristics in the external validations that occurred after the initial publication and also to review how the recognition of a group of patients at low risk has changed the management of febrile neutropenia. We also raise the issue of identification of high-risk patients that remains a challenge today.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / adverse effects*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Fever / chemically induced*
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Neutropenia / chemically induced*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Risk Factors

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents