Abstract
Background aims. This single-center 10-year retrospective study assessed clinical efficacies and adverse events and determined prognostic factors in patients with hematologic disease and febrile neutropenia treated with granulocyte transfusions (GT) from unrelated healthy donors stimulated with recombinant human granulocyte–colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) and dexamethasone. Methods. Between September 1999 and June 2009, 1027 therapeutic GT were performed for the treatment of 170 episodes of febrile neutropenia in 157 patients. Efficacy analysis included 979 GT for 138 episodes in 128 patients who received at least three GT per episode. Adverse event analysis included all patients who received at least one GT. Results. The median granulocyte dose was 0.96 × 109/kg/transfusion (range 0.47–1.80 × 109/kg/transfusion). Infection was controlled in 73 episodes (52.9%). The 28-day infection-related survival rate was 64.7 ± 4.1%. The dose of granulocytes transfused did not correlate with clinical outcome. Multivariate analysis revealed that septic shock and pneumonia/multiple primary infection sites were related to infection control failure. Furthermore, refractory underlying disease and septic shock were associated with shorter infection-related survival. Massive hemoptysis (3.5%) and respiratory failure (5.9%) occurred in a few patients. Prior pneumonic infiltration, azotemia and a larger volume of daily GT were associated with serious respiratory complications. Conclusions. GT therapy is a viable adjunctive treatment option for febrile neutropenia as a bridge to autologous hematopoietic recovery in patients with hematologic disease with tolerable toxicity. GT therapy requires close monitoring in patients with prior pneumonic infiltration and azotemia. It is recommended that transfusion with higher volumes is avoided.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Ms Yang Hyun Kim, Seoul National University Hospital, for her skilled technical assistance. This work was supported by a grant from the Korea Health 21 R&D project, Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, ROK (A084783) and (A030001).
Disclosure of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the manuscript submitted to Cytotherapy.