High-doses Granulocyte Colony-stimulating Factor (G-CSF) Benefit Elderly Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Abstract

Objective To analyze the effects of high-dose (> 5 μg/kg) and standard-dose (5 μg/kg) granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) on infection and blood transfusion in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) during chemotherapy. Methods During the 273 cycles of chemotherapy, 82 elderly patients with AML were treated with two doses of G-CSF. The use of antibiotics and antifungal agents, fever days, the degree of fever, neutropenia time and the blood transfusion were analyzed retrospectively. Results In 273 cycles of chemotherapy, there were 223(81.7%) times of concurrent infection, 11(13.4%) patients were discontinued due to the infection; In standard treatment group 2(2.3%) patients died during induction treatment. Subgroup analysis showed the high-dose group significantly shortened the neutropenia and fever time and decreased the use of antifungal agents. Conclusion High-dose G-CSF could improve the safety and tolerability of chemotherapy in elderly patients with AML.

Keywords

• leukemia
• elder
• granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (g-csf)
• infection
• anti-fungal