Lifelines (Spring 2001) - Young Man Saved By Donated Granulocytes

Young Man Saved By Donated Granulocytes

During the month of December 2000, the life of a patient at UC San Francisco was saved through the generosity of BCP’s apheresis donors. These donors were called upon to give granulocytes.

The patient was a young man of 18 with a form of testicular cancer that had spread to other places in his body. This type of cancer was similar to the kind of cancer that Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France bicyclist had. The patient had been treated with chemotherapy followed by an autologous stem cell transplant. Unfortunately, the transplant did not take, and after four weeks, the young man’s bone marrow was still not producing red blood cells, platelets or white blood cells.

With non-functioning bone marrow, the patient was being supported by transfusions of red blood cells and platelets. His white blood cell count was also extremely low, which made him susceptible to bacterial and fungal infections. During December, he developed an infection with the E.coli bacterium. The infection quickly spread throughout his blood and organs. He became septic, his kidneys began to malfunction and he needed medication to control his blood pressure. The antibiotics given to him did little to fight the raging infection, and his oncologist decided to contact BCP to arrange for a series of granulocyte transfusions to fight the infection. During this crisis, the patient’s father and siblings were tested to see who would be the most appropriate donor for a second transplant.

Granulocyte donations must be compatible by blood type and RH factor. In this case, the doctors also wanted a donor who was cytomegalovirus (CMV) negative. The staff at BCP immediately searched through the registry of donors for a suitable match. Two BCP apheresis donors agreed to provide granulocyte donations along with the patient’s father and aunt. The donation process for granulocytes is similar to donating platelets. The same cell separating machine is used, but the procedure time is longer and can take up to three hours! Also, granulocytes only last 24 hours after collection and scheduling these donations must be done with great care. Because of these four wonderful people, the patient was able to receive granulocyte transfusions every other day for two weeks until his doctors began to see an improvement. The family reported that the patient felt more alert, his fever abated and he required less and less blood pressure medication.

Eventually the patient received a second stem cell transplant. His brother was the donor this time. The patient’s doctors felt strongly that the granulocyte transfusions kept this young patient alive until a second transplant could be performed. BCP is very proud to be able to facilitate these lifesaving transfusions and we thank those donors who gave selflessly to help another.