POOR HEMOPOIETIC STEM CELL MOBILIZERS IN MULTIPLE MYELOMA : A SINGLE INSTITUTION EXPERIENCE

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; tab-stops: 248.1pt;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">                  </span>In a single institution, in a group of 28<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> myeloma patients deemed eligible for autologous transplant, stem cell mobilization was attempted using filgrastim: 26 individuals were given 31 autografts employing 1-4 (median three) apheresis sessions, to obtain a target stem cell dose of 1 x 10<sup>6</sup> CD34 viable cells / Kg of the recipient. The median number of grafted CD34 cells was 7.56 x 10<sup>6</sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>/ Kg of the recipient; the range being 0.92 to 14.8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>By defining as poor mobilizers individuals in which a cell collection of < 1 x 10<sup>6</sup> CD34 viable cells / Kg was obtained, a subset of eight poor mobilizers was identified; in two patients the autograft was aborted because of an extremely poor CD34 cell yield (< 0.2 x 10<sup>6</sup> CD34 viable cells / Kg of the recipient) after four apheresis sessions. The long-term overall survival of the patients grafted with > 1 x 10<sup>6</sup> CD34 viable cells / Kg was better (80% at 80 months) than those grafted with < 1 x 10<sup>6</sup> CD34 viable cells / Kg (67% at 76 months). Methods to improve stem cell mobilization are needed and may result in obtaining better results when autografting multiple myeloma patients.</span></span></span></strong></p&gt