OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to compare pegfilgrastim and filgrastim in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients treated with a rituximab with cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin, oncovin, and prednisone (R-CHOP) regimen in terms of clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness. METHOD: Clinical efficacy was measured by trough level of absolute neutrophil count (ANC), days of ANC under 50% of baseline value, days of ANC under 90% of baseline value, duration of ANC recovery to baseline value, days of ANC less than 0.5 x 109 cells/L, and difference of peak and trough level of ANC during 1 cycle of R-CHOP regimen. To evaluate cost-effectiveness, total prices of used filgrastim and pegfilgrastim within 1 cycle of R-CHOP were analyzed. RESULTS: In terms of clinical efficacy, trough level of ANC and days to ANC recovery showed statistical significance. The median trough levels of ANC with administration of filgrastim and pegfilgrastim were 0.18 and 1.94 (p = 0.021), respectively, and the median durations of ANC recovery to baseline value were 5.5 days and 2 days (p = 0.023), respectively. For the median days of ANC under 50% of baseline value, days of ANC under 90% of baseline value, days of ANC less than 0.5 x 109 cells/L, and difference of peak and trough level of ANC during 1 cycle of R-CHOP, the pegfilgrastim group performed better than the filgrastim group. However the difference was not statistically significant. In terms of overall expense during 1 cycle of R-CHOP, pegfilgrastim is about 3.43 times more expensive than filgrastim. CONCLUSION: Pegfilgrastim is more efficient than filgrastim in terms of clinical efficacy. In terms of prices, pegfilgrastim is more expensive than filgrastim for patients, but it is more convenient in clinical use. Therefore, pegfilgrastim should be the preferred choice of G-CSF for neutropenic patients. Further comparative study of pegfilgrastim and filgrastim is needed.
Cyclophosphamide ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Humans ; Lymphoma, B-Cell ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophils ; Prednisone ; Vincristine ; Filgrastim ; Rituximab

Neutropenia is defined as an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of <1,500/microliter, and the severity of neutropenia generally can be graded as mild (1,000-1,500/microliter), moderate (500-1,000/microliter), or severe (<500/microliter). This stratification aids in predicting the risk of pyogenic infection because the susceptibility to life-threatening infections is significantly increased in patients with prolonged episodes of severe neutropenia. Especially cancer-related neutropenia carry significant mortality. Neutropenia can develop under various conditions such as decreased bone marrow production, the sequestering of neutrophils, and increased destruction of neutrophils in the peripheral blood. Neutropenia is classified according to the etiology as congenital or acquired, with the latter further defined according to the etiology or pathology. The clinical result is increased risk for infection, which is directly proportional to the severity and duration of the neutropenia. The typical workup of neutropenia starts with a 6-week period in which complete blood counts are measured twice weekly to document the persistence of the neutropenia and whether a cyclic pattern is present. When persistent neutropenia is diagnosed and no spontaneous recovery occurs within 3 months, a more extensive evaluation is advised. Treatment is usually unnecessary for most patients with severe neutropenia, as the majority of patients have a good prognosis. However, for patients who have severe and frequent infections, treatment with filgrastim may prevent infectious complications and improve quality of life.
Blood Cell Count ; Bone Marrow ; Child ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Humans ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophils ; Prognosis ; Quality of Life ; Recombinant Proteins ; Filgrastim

Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) is often diagnosed in patients with pneumonia who respond poorly to antibiotics. BOOP is often idiopathic, and the etiology of the remaining cases has been attributed to a wide range of agents or medical conditions. When a patient develops the clinical symptoms characteristic of BOOP, the medical team must endeavor to determine the etiology of this disease because it can be treated with glucocorticoid and avoidance of the causative agent. In particular, if BOOP is diagnosed during or after chemotherapy for a malignancy, the possible culprit agent can be the anti cancer drugs but other drugs used for supportive care must be also be considered. We report a case of BOOP that arose after CHOP chemotherapy and a filgrastim injection in a patient with a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; B-Lymphocytes* ; Bronchiolitis Obliterans* ; Bronchiolitis* ; Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia* ; Drug Therapy* ; Humans ; Lymphoma, B-Cell* ; Pneumonia ; Filgrastim

OBJECTIVETo analyze the results and influential factors of mobilization and harvesting of autologous peripheral blood stem cell in patients with multiple myeloma (MM).

METHODSRetrospective analysis of peripheral blood stem cell collection data [CD34⁺ cells collected, successful mobilization rate (CD34⁺ cells≥2×10⁶/kg body weight), good mobilization rate (CD34⁺ cells≥5×10⁶/kg body weight)] of 149 multiple myeloma patients who were treated with cyclophosphamide (CTX) or E-CHOP (etoposide+ CTX+epirubicin+vindesine+prednisone) chemotherapy combined with G-CSF mobilization from January 1998 to March 2014. The relevance between gender, age, subtype, DS staging, ISS staging, treatment before mobilization, disease status at mobilization, regiment of mobilizationand the collection results was analyzed.

RESULTSA total of 177 stem cell mobilizations were performed in 149 MM patients, the median CD34⁺ cells harvested were 3.20 (0.13-22.34)×10⁶/kg body weight (BW), successful mobilization rate and good mobilization rate were 74.5% and 27.5%, respectively. The single logistic regression analysis showed that gender, age （>60 ys vs ≤60 ys）, subtype, DS staging (III vs II+I), ISS staging (III vs II+I) and regiment of mobilization (E-CHOP+G-CSF vs ID-CTX+G-CSF) were not correlated with the cell collection or successful mobilization rate (P>0.05). However, successful collection rate of single harvest in old patients (age>60 ys) was lower (P<0.05), andthe good mobilization rate in patients at ISS stage III was lower (P<0.05). The collection results of patients with fewer cycles of treatment (treatment before mobilization ≤6 cycles) and optimal disease status (disease status at mobilization ≥partial remission) were much better. Analysis of logistic factors revealed that treatment efficacy before mobilization affected success rate of collection (P=0.006). Risk of collection failure in patients who received more than 6 cycles of treatment before mobilization was high (OR 3.57, 95% CI 1.45-8.78).

CONCLUSIONGender, age, subtype, DS staging, ISS staging and mobilization regimen did not influence MM patients peripheral blood stem cell collection; but old patients may need twice mobilizations to collect sufficiently. Few cycles of treatment and stable disease status before mobilization is favorable to the mobilization and collection of peripheral blood stem cells.

Antigens, CD34 ; Cyclophosphamide ; Filgrastim ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; Humans ; Multiple Myeloma ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

PURPOSE: Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) has been widely used. The optimal time for collection is a critical factor to obtain proper counts of CD34 cell by peripheral blood stem cell collection (PBSC). The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing peripheral blood stem cell collection in order to figure out the more effective timing for PBSC. METHOD: The subjects of this study were 189 patients undergoing 3 leukapheresis from January 28, 2005 to December 31, 2006. Group's characteristics, checkup opinion of pre-peripheral blood on the day of harvest & outcome of PBSC were analyzed and evaluated using SAS statistics program after grouping patients as below; group 1-CD34 cell counts <2 x10(6)/kg (n=97); group 2-2x10(6)/kg < or =CD34 cell counts <4x10(6)/kg (n=26); group 3-CD34 cell counts > or =4x10(6)/kg (n=63). RESULTS: Based on outcome of peripheral blood stem cell according to diagnosis, acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) was 65.5% at Group 1, Lymphoma was 21.7% at Group 2 and multiple myeloma (MM) was 70.8% at Group 3. There were significant differences in CD34 cell counts according to diagnosis (p=0.00004). Type of cytokine mobilization according to diagnosis, Lenograsim was using 62.5% of MM & 38.2% of AML and filgrastim is using 22.0% of AML only. Circular peripheral blood CD34 cell counts prior to harvest was 258.1/microliter at Group 3 which was much higher comparing to Group 1 (10.5/microliter) and Group 2 (39.9/microliter) (p<0.001). TNC counts of collected peripheral blood stem cell was 15.36x10(6)/kg at Group 3 microliter and it's much higher than Group 2 (13.16x10(6)/kg) and Group 1 (12.36x10(6)/kg) (p=0.083). There was no significant difference in MNC counts inbetween 3 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Circular peripheral blood CD34+ cell counts prior to harvest was much higher at Group 3 than Group 1 and Group 2. Therefore, the number of CD34+ cells on the day of harvest can be used as an accurate predictor for peripheral blood stem cell.
Cell Count ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Humans ; Leukapheresis ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; Lymphoma ; Multiple Myeloma ; Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation ; Phenothiazines ; Recombinant Proteins ; Stem Cells ; Filgrastim

OBJECTIVETo analyze the duration of preventive filgrastim administration as support for chemotherapy and its affecting factors.

METHODSSingle institutional data from a phase Ⅱ clinical trial and a phase Ⅲ clinical trial of pegylated filgrastim were combined. In the two randomized cross-over trials, patients with previously untreated cancer received two cycles of chemotherapy of the same regimen. In the study group, the patients received a single subcutaneous injection of 100 μg/kg pegylated filgrastim, and in the control group, they received daily subcutaneous injections of 5 μg/kg filgrastim.

RESULTSIn 53 chemotherapy cycles, the median duration of filgrastim administration was (9.57±2.10)d. 83.0% (44/53) of them received filgrastim for 7-11 days. Patients with baseline absolute neutrophil count of <4×10(9)/L or body mass index less than 22 received a longer filgrastim prophylaxis(P<0.05). RESULTS of multivariate analysis showed that the baseline absolute neutrophil count is associated with the time of filgrastim administration(P=0.019). The most common adverse event of rhG-CSF was skeletal pain, generally mild and no treatment-related death occurred.

CONCLUSIONSThe median duration of filgrastim support for chemotherapy was 10 days. Patients with lower baseline neutrophil count require a longer filgrastim prophylaxis.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT01285219.

Antineoplastic Agents ; adverse effects ; Cross-Over Studies ; Filgrastim ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Hematologic Agents ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Induction Chemotherapy ; Injections, Subcutaneous ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Neutropenia ; chemically induced ; prevention & control ; Time Factors

BACKGROUND: Bendamustine is a chemotherapeutic agent that has shown broad activity in patients with lymphoid malignancies. It contains both alkylating and nucleoside analog moieties, and thus, is not commonly used for stem cell mobilization due to concerns that it may adversely affect stem cell collection. Here we describe the lymphoma subset of a prospective, non-randomized phase II study of bendamustine, etoposide, and dexamethasone (BED) as a mobilization agent for lymphoid malignancies. METHODS: This subset analysis includes diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (N=3), follicular lymphoma (N=1), primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (N=1), and NK/T-cell lymphoma (N=1). Patients received bendamustine (120 mg/m² IV d 1, 2), etoposide (200 mg/m² IV d 1–3), and dexamethasone (40 mg PO d 1–4) followed by filgrastim (10 mcg/kg/d sc. through collection). RESULTS: We successfully collected stem cells from all patients, with a median of 7.9×10⁶/kg of body weight (range, 4.4 to 17.3×10⁶/kg) over a median of 1.5 days (range, 1 to 3) of apheresis. All patients who received transplants were engrafted using kinetics that were comparable to those of other mobilization regimens. Three non-hematologic significant adverse events were observed in one patient, and included bacterial sepsis (grade 3), tumor lysis syndrome (grade 3), and disease progression (grade 5). CONCLUSION: For non-Hodgkin lymphoma, mobilization with bendamustine is safe and effective.
Autografts* ; Bendamustine Hydrochloride* ; Blood Component Removal ; Body Weight ; Dexamethasone* ; Disease Progression ; Etoposide* ; Filgrastim ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells* ; Humans ; Kinetics ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, B-Cell ; Lymphoma, Follicular ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin* ; Prospective Studies ; Sepsis ; Stem Cells ; Transplantation, Autologous* ; Tumor Lysis Syndrome