Primary prophylactic colony-stimulating factors (PP-CSFs) are prescribed to patients undergoing chemotherapy to reduce the risk of febrile neutropenia (FN). Studies have shown that 55% to 95% of PP-CSF prescribing is inconsistent with guidelines, which state that PP-CSFs should be prescribed with chemotherapy regimens at high risk for developing FN and should not be prescribed with regimens at low risk for developing FN. There is a lack of evidence around the use of PP-CSFs with regimens that have an intermediate risk for developing FN. The Trial Assessing CSF Prescribing, Effectiveness, and Risk (TrACER) study was designed to examine whether a guideline-informed standing order for administering PP-CSFs improved prescribing and reduced the incidence of FN compared with usual care (UC) and to generate evidence about whether giving PP-CSFs to patients receiving intermediate-risk regimens reduced rates of FN.
