Granulocyte transfusions in severe aplastic anemia

Patients with severe aplastic anemia aplastic anemia: (ay-PLASS-tik uh-NEE_mee-uh) A rare and serious condition in which the bone marrow fails to make enough blood cells - red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. The term aplastic is a Greek word meaning not to form. Anemia is a condition that happens when red blood cell count is low. Most… (SAA) are at high risk of morbidity and mortality due to severe infections. We aimed to characterize the role of granulocyte granulocyte: Any one of these three types of white blood cells - neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils. These cells have granules that contain enzymes to help fight infection. transfusions (GT) in SAA. Primary outcomes were survival after the first GT, including overall survival (OS) at last follow up, survival to discharge, and receipt of a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) Secondary outcomes included evaluation of clinical response at 7 and 30 days after initiation of GT, using a clinical scoring system incorporating microbiological and radiographic response. Twenty-eight SAA patients underwent 30 GT courses with a per-dose median of 1.28x109 granulocytes/kilogram (range, 0.45-4.52x109). OS from initial GT to median last follow up (551 days) was 50%, with 39% (11/28) alive at last follow up. Sixty-four percent (18/28) of all patients survived to hospital discharge. Patients with a complete or partial response, or stable infection, at 30 days had significantly better OS compared to non-responders (P=0.0004). Eighty-six percent (18/21) of patients awaiting HSCT during GT underwent a transplant and 62% (13/21) survived to post-HSCT discharge. Sex, type of infection, and percentage of days with absolute neutrophil neutrophil: (NOO-truh-fil) The most numerous of the white blood cells, important for helping the body fight infections (particularly bacterial and fungal infections. count >0.2x109/L during the course of GT were not predictive of survival (P=0.52, P=0.7 and P=0.28, respectively). Nine of 28 (32%) patients developed new or increased human leukocyte antigen human leukocyte antigen: (LEW-kuh-site ANT-i-jun) One of a group of proteins found on the surface of white blood cells and other cells. These antigens differ from person to person. A human leukocyte antigen test is done before a stem cell transplant to closely match a donor and a recipient. Also called HLA. alloimmunization during their GT course. GT in SAA may have an impact on survival in those patients with improvement or stabilization of their underlying infection. Alloimmunization can occur and OS in this population remains poor, but GT may be a useful tool to bridge patients to curative treatment with HSCT.