Correlation of Timing of Pegfilgrastim Administration and PIBP.

According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, patients receiving high-risk or moderate-risk febrile neutropenia (FN) chemotherapy with at least one risk factor should receive prophylactic granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (G-CSFs). However, pegfilgrastim-induced bone pain (PIBP) remains a common and significant clinical issue without a satisfactory solution. Studies have reported that the incidence rate of PIBP is 71.3%, with severe bone pain occurring in 27.0% of cases. Currently, the available data on PIBP treatment are limited to case reports, reviews, and small randomized controlled trials. The NCCN guidelines recommend preventive oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or antihistamines as the treatment for PIBP. However, even with these preventive measures, the incidence rate of PIBP remains high at 61.1%, with severe bone pain occurring in 19.2% of cases. Severe bone pain can significantly impact the patient's health-related quality of life (HRQol), leading to potential refusal of pegfilgrastim administration and subsequent dose reduction in effective chemotherapy. Ultimately, this may have negative implications for tumor cure rates and patient survival. Based on previous literature, it appears that delaying the administration of pegfilgrastim may be associated with a lower incidence of PIBP. Therefore, our study aims to investigate the correlation between the timing of pegfilgrastim administration and the occurrence of PIBP.