INTERSTITIAL PNEUMONITIS RELATED TO GRANULOCYTE-COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR ADMINISTRATION FOLLOWING CHEMOTHERAPY FOR ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA

We treated three cases of interstitial pneumonitis (IF) in 26 elderly (greater than or equal to 65 years old) patients with non-Hodgkin's ly mphoma (NHL) who received the same chemotherapeutic protocol including granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) administration, Fortuna tely, all three patients recovered from IP spontaneously by discontinu ation of G-CSF alone or with administration of corticosteroid, Because the duration and extent of neutrophilia induced by G-CSF administrati on was not different between the cases complicated by IP and those wit hout IP, underlying pulmonary damage is suggested to be more involved than neutrophil count in the development of IP.