Novel Blood Test Could Cut Hospital Stays for Children with Cancer

High temperatures are common in children undergoing treatment for cancer due to their lowered immune system. The commonest approach is to keep children in hospital for up to a week while antibiotics are administered in case the fever is a symptom of a serious infection like sepsis. A new blood test could help to safely cut hospital stays for children with cancer who develop a fever, according to a new study.

The study, by researchers from the University of York (York, UK) and Hull York Medical School (York, UK) reveals the blood test can help doctors to distinguish between children whose fever is a sign of serious illness and those who are safe to go home. The results of the study, which involved 28 children with cancer, show that using the blood test in combination with a new protocol to identify children that are safe to go home, cuts their average stay in hospital down to two days, with some able to leave in as little as eight hours. The researchers believe that this change will make an enormous difference to children with cancer and their families, easing mental health and financial burdens. The test diagnoses serious infections by looking at levels of the biomarker procalcitonin in the blood. Those children with low levels often had their antibiotics stopped more quickly and went home earlier.

"Frequent fevers are a distressing and sometimes life-threatening complication of childhood cancer. Our study shows that procalcitonin blood tests could make a big difference to children who don’t have a serious infection, allowing them to go home earlier to be with their families, cutting unnecessary treatment with antibiotics and reducing an already intense mental and physical toll," said Dr. Bob Phillips from the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York and Hull York Medical School. "These promising results and the willingness of families to take part in this research mean we can now apply for further funding in order to carry out a large-scale study."

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Hull York Medical School