Abstract
Background: One of the most common side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients is neutropenia
that can result in hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the
efficacy and tolerability of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-filgrastim compared with filgrastim
in the recovery of neutropenia. Methods: This study was a Phase I clinical trial conducted among patients with acute lymphoblastic
leukemia aged <16 years who were referred to the Ali Asghar Hospital, Tehran, Iran,
from April 2012 until October 2013. Eleven patients were selected, and filgrastim
and PEG-filgrastim were injected subcutaneously at a dose of 5–10 μg/kg/day for 7
days and 100 μg/kg as a single dose, respectively. Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)
was checked 7 days after the last injection in the two groups. Results: The mean age of the patients was 8.82 ± 4.36 years (3–15 years). Six boys (54.5%)
and five girls (45.5%) participated in the study. ANC increase among patients treated
with PEG-filgrastim or filgrastim was analyzed separately, and the results showed
statistically significant differences between the study groups (P = 0.038). Conclusions: According to the findings, it can be concluded that the PEG-filgrastim is better
than filgrastim alone to improve neutropenia induced by chemotherapy in patients with
acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Keywords
Chemotherapy - children - filgrastim - neutropenia - polyethylene glycol-filgrastim
