Adverse reactions during stem cell infusion in children treated with autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Adverse reactions (ARs) during the infusion of cellular therapy products (CTPs) are common in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We retrospectively studied pediatric patients undergoing autologous and allogeneic HSCT to determine the incidence and grade of ARs during stem cell infusion and their predictors. We analyzed data from 213 patients (120 allogeneic and 93 autologous) who received at least 1 CTP, totaling 361 infusion episodes. Serious ARs, defined as grade 2 and 3, occurred in 25 and 11% of infusions, respectively. No grade 4 or 5 ARs were noted. Independent risk factors for developing a serious AR included stem cell source (PBSC vs marrow (odds ratio (OR) 1.8, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.4-9); cord vs marrow (OR 7.3, 95% CI: 1.3-40), overall P=0.0001) but manipulated CTPs were protective (OR 0.4, 95% CI: 0.2-0.7, P=0.004). Unlike previous adult studies, WBC and granulocyte content were not found to be risk factors in this pediatric population. These data suggest that children tolerate higher WBC content during infusion of CTPs and support the use of manipulated CTP, as indicated, to reduce the risk of adverse infusion reactions.