The group reports the impact on the most dangerous phase of chemotherapy today at the 38th annual conference of the American Society of Hematology. Though high doses of toxic chemotherapy agents effectively kill cancer cells, they invariably decimate many important factors in blood that normally protect the body and fight infection. Some of the most important infection-fighting white cells, called neutrophils, are killed off by the billions during the first weeks of chemotherapy. Such a compromise is dangerous and potentially fatal. As a result, more than 5,000 cancer patients in the United States are forced to undergo stem-cell transplants each year in order to survive chemotherapy.
Stem cells are neophyte blood cells that can help strengthen the body's ability to fight infection.
Even so, mortality from severe, opportunistic infections during the initial stages of treatment may still reach 5 percent. Up to 10 percent of chemotherapy patients develop a collection of blood infections called sepsis, and all require some form of antibiotic treatment, Adkins said. In a study of 10 high-dose chemotherapy patients undergoing stem cell transplants, Adkins and his colleagues transfused concentrations of neutrophils that strengthened the patients against infection. The transfusions were laced with growth factors, natural body proteins that help regulate the number of blood cells in circulation. When given in high concentrations, growth factors can help neutrophils survive longer, boosting their numbers, Adkins said.