Transfusion requirement can be abolished by epoietin-alpha and autologous platelet predeposit in patients receiving high dose chemotherapy with stem cell support

In patients undergoing high dose sequential chemotherapy (HDS) for breast c ancer (BC),(1) allogeneic platelet transfusions can be avoided by using cry opreserved autologous platelets.(2) Nevertheless, half of these patients de velop a mild anemia before myeloblation, requiring eventually blood transfu sion. In this cohort of patients, we evaluated the efficacy of recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO)(3,4) in preventing the development of anemia, an d therefore any allogeneic transfusion requirement.