Hypogammaglobulinemia increases the risk of chemotherapy associated febrile neutropenia in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

18549 Background: Infections are the major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Hypogammaglobulinemia, in general, increases the susceptibility to infections in patients with CLL. We conducted a case-control study to investigate whether hypogammaglobulinemia (Immunoglobulin-G (IgG) level <600 mg/dL) increases the risk of febrile neutropenic episodes in CLL patients with chemotherapy associated neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count (ANC) <0.5 × 109/L). Methods: The source cohort consisted of all consecutive patients with CLL seen at our institution between Jan 2002 to June 2005.We identified 8 cases of chemotherapy associated febrile neutropenia; controls consisted of 18 patients, with neutropenia but no fever (n = 4) or no neutropenia (n = 14). Results: The two groups were comparable except for a higher proportion of patients with Rai stage-4 disease in the febrile neutropenia cohort (100% vs. 17%, p < 0.001). Eight of the 8 patients in febrile neutropenia...