Use of recombinant human erythropoietin in allogeneic bone marrow
transplant donor/recipient pairs
AJ Mitus, JH Antin, CJ Rutherford, CJ McGarigle and MA Goldberg
Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical
School, Boston, MA 02115.
In an attempt to reduce or eliminate homologous red blood cell transfusion
requirements during allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT), we
instituted a novel program whereby recombinant human erythropoietin was
administered to pairs of BMT donors and recipients. Eleven recipients and
their HLA-matched donors were enrolled. Donors treated with recombinant
human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) were phlebotomized a median of 6 U (range, 4
to 11 U) of blood over a 5-week period. This donor-derived blood was
available to the BMT donor or recipient as needed. Transplant recipients
were also treated with rHuEPO post-BMT to hasten erythropoiesis. Five of 11
BMT recipients underwent transplant receiving only donor-derived red blood
cell transfusion, compared with 0 of 11 concomitant control recipients (P =
.04). In addition, the time to absolute reticulocyte count > or =
10(4)/microL was statistically shorter in the rHuEPO-treated recipient
group. This study serves as a paradigm for hematopoietic growth factor use
in allogeneic BMT to decrease or eliminate homologous transfusion exposures
and to possibly hasten hematopoietic engraftment.
Volume 83,
Issue 7,
pp. 1952-1957,
04/01/1994
Copyright © 1994 by The American Society of Hematology
