Administration of amifostine in the stage of remission induction can benefit the patients with hematological malignancy in autologous stem cell transplantation: a retrospective study.

Abstract

BackgroundTo investigate whether the administration of amifostine in the stage of remission induction can benefit patients with hematological malignancy in autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT).MethodsTwo historical groups of patients who received prophylactic amifostine in the stage of remission induction and ASCT (group A, n=95) or amifostine in ASCT only (group B, n=73) were included. The chemotherapy-associated side effects in peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) mobilization, total average monocyte per kilogram in stem cells collections, hematologic toxicity and engraftment kinetics, non-hematologic toxicity, therapeutic response after ASCT were compared between the two groups.ResultsFor PBSCs mobilization, the rate of fever in group A was significantly higher (24/95 vs. 2/73; P=0.0001), but the incidence of emesis was significantly lower (8/95 vs. 27/73; P=0.0001) compared with group B. For collected PBSCs, the average total mononuclear cells per kilogram in group A were 7.031×108/kg, while it was 4.624×108/kg in group B (P=0.0001). The median duration of neutropenia was 8.62 days in group A, which was significantly shorter than that of group B by almost 2 days (10.51 days, P=0.038). The incidence of oral mucositis was 8.4% in group A and 32% in group B (P=0.0002). No significant differences of therapeutic response were observed between the two groups.ConclusionsProphylactic amifostine can reduce mucositis, improve monocytes collection and promote hematopoietic recovery in ASCT.