Costs of peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation using whole blood mobilised by filgrastim as compared with autologous bone marrow transplantation in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Objective: The aim of this paper is to compare the costs of autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) and whole blood transplantation in patients with relapsed or poorly responding non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Design and setting: In a retrospective study, we calculated the treatment c osts of 40 patients who received either ABMT or, alternatively, whole blood mobilised by filgrastim (a granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. Main outcome measures and results: The recovery of granulocytes was markedl y accelerated in the whole blood group as compared with the ABMT group. Thi s resulted in a reduction in hospital costs, and costs for diagnostics and medical procedures, antibacterials, nutrition and blood transfusions. The a verage costs per patient in the whole blood group amounted to approximately $US16890 as compared with approximately SUS20713 in the ABMT group (1995 v alues), implying a cost reduction of 18% when changing to whole blood reinf usion. Conclusions: With the premise that both therapies are equivalent, it seems that whole blood transplantation is more cost effective than ABMT.