Development of a practical oral dexamethasone premedication schedule leading to improved granulocyte yields with the continuous-flow centrifugal blood cell separator.

Studies were conducted to improve the yield of granulocytes collected for transfusion from normal donors by means of the continuous-flow centrifugal blood cell separator. Nonleukapheresed donors were medicated with varying schedules of corticosteroids to learn the magnitude and duration of granulocytosis. Normal donors were medicated with varying schedules of corticosteroids prior to a 4-hr leukapheresis and the granulocyte yields determined. It was found that maximum yields (32.2 x 10(9) granulocytes) were obtained by use of dexamethasone given orally 12 and 3 hr prior to leukapheresis. There was a good correlation between the yields and the circulating granulocyte count at the start and during the procedure.