G-CSF AFTER AUTOLOGOUS BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION FOR MALIGNANT DISEASES IN CHILDREN

The use of recombinant human granulocyte-stimulating factor (G-CSF) ha s been shown to effectively accelerate granulocytic recovery after aut ologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in adults, The experience, h owever, is limited in children, We evaluated the hematopoietic reconst itution in 41 consecutive children undergoing autologous BMT for hemat ologic malignancies (21 acute lymphoblastic leukemia, five non-Hodgkin 's lymphoma) and solid tumours (seven neuroblastoma, two brain tumor, three Ewing's sarcoma, two Wilms' tumor, one rhabdomyosarcoma), Their ages ranged from 2 to 16 years (mean 7.2 years), rhG-CSF was given at a dose of 10 mu g/kg/day i.v. in a 2h infusion from day +1 until day 28 or until the absolute neutrophil count (ANC) was >1 x 10(9)/L, Thes e patients were compared with a similar historical control group of 38 children who did not receive rhG-CSF after autologous BMT, The number of cells infused was similar in both groups, At the dose and schedule used in the present study, rhG-CSF was well tolerated and no side-eff ects were observed, Our data show that rhG-CSF accelerates engraftment and reduces the number of febrile days and antibiotic use, Furthermor e, patients who were treated had less infections.