Granulocyte transfusion therapy: state of the art.

Previously, granulocyte transfusion therapy was impractical due to insufficient yields obtained from normal donors. With the advent of such technical advances as continuous-flow centrifugation (CFC) and filtration leukapheresis (FL), the procurement of sufficient amounts of normal donor neutrophils becomes feasible. These techniques have allowed normal granulocytic cells to be infused into patients with a wide variety of granulocytopenic disorders related to infections which, without therapy, could prove fatal. In conditions in which normal granulopoiesis has become insufficient or when used to assist antibiotics in their fight against infection, granulocyte transfusion has been shown to be of definite clinical value.