1. ¹Transfusion Medicine Service, Sant'Orsola Hospital, Bologna, Italy
2. ²Institute of Hematology and Medical Oncology L.&A. Seragnoli, Sant'Orsola Hospital, Bologna, Italy

Correspondence: Dr R Conte, Transfusion Medicine Service, Sant'Orsola Hospital, 40138 Via Massarenti, 9-Bologna, Italy. E-mail: immunologia@aosp.bo.it

Received 13 December 2004; Accepted 1 May 2005; Published online 20 June 2005.

Abstract

Healthy allogeneic donors, who were treated with G-CSF and underwent peripheral blood haematopoietic precursor collection at our Institution, were enrolled in a short- and long-term haematological surveillance protocol for a 5–7-year period. To date, 94 donors have been assessed with a mean follow-up of 30 months (4–84); for 30 subjects, the follow-up is 48 months. During G-CSF administration, 23/94 donors showed a significant platelet count decrease from the baseline. Pre-apheresis platelet decrement correlated with the total G-CSF dose administered, baseline platelet level and donor age. Normal platelet counts returned within 4–8 months. PMN and/or lymphocyte lower values were observed in 55/94 donors 2 weeks after G-CSF administration, with mean drops from the baseline of 40 and 36% for PMN and lymphocytes, respectively. The PMN decrease correlated inversely with donor age, as younger donors were more affected than older ones, whereas the lymphocyte decrease correlated directly with the total blood volumes processed in the apheresis courses, in particular for donors subjected to large volume leukaphereses. Long-term observation showed moderate neutrophil reduction (25% count drop from the baseline) in four of the 30 donors observed for four years or more. 14 donors showed persistent, slight lymphocytopenia (mean drop of 13%) until the third year, with recovery in the fourth year of follow-up.