Faster engraftment but no reduction in infectious complications after peripheral blood stem cell transplantation compared to autologous bone marrow transplantation.

Patients who receive transplants of autologous peripheral stem cells have a shorter duration of neutropenia than patients who receive autologous bone marrow transplants. There is conflicting evidence regarding the risk of infections. A retrospective analysis on 123 patients who received transplants of either autologous bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells for multiple myeloma or breast cancer was performed to study whether this shorter duration of neutropenia can influence the risk of and the severity of infection. Patients who underwent peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) had faster engraftment than the group treated with autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT). Furthermore, the requirement for transfusions of red blood cells and platelets was a reduced. The number of days needed in hospital was significantly lower in PBSCT patients. No reduction in the frequency of infectious complications was found in PBSCT as compared with ABMT patients, but the numbers of days with fever and with antibiotic treatment were significantly lower in the PBSCT patients. Breast cancer patients had significantly faster engraftment but no fewer infectious complications than myeloma patients, regardless of the type of transplantation. Significantly lower numbers of clinically verified infections were found in the group of patients receiving colony-stimulating factors (CSF) after transplantation even though there was no difference in the duration of neutropenia. The need for antibiotic treatment was also significantly less in the group treated with CSF.