Febrile reaction associated with the infusion of haploidentical peripheral blood stem cells: incidence, clinical features, and risk factors

BACKGROUND: We reported febrile reaction after the infusion of haploidentical peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs). The aim of this study was to better characterize this new clinical entity named by infusion-related febrile reaction (IRFR). STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 490 patients received allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) between October 2009 and December 2011 at our institution. RESULTS: The distribution of transplant type was 173 patients in HLA-identical siblings, 30 in unrelated, and 287 in haploidentical. IRFR was defined as unexplained fever of more than 38 degrees C within 24 hours after the infusion of allogeneic PBSCs. We did not observe any IRFRs in patients undergoing HLA-identical sibling and unrelated transfusions. After excluding patients with a known source of infection, we classified haploidentical patients into IRFR and non-IRFR groups. Eighty-eight patients (30.7%) of 287 cases after the infusion of haploidentical PBSCs were diagnosed as IRFRs, chills in 3.5% (10/88), diarrhea in 21.6% (19/88), an erythematous skin rash in 0.3% (1/88), hypoxemia in 1.0% (3/88), and no other accompanying symptoms in 62.5% (55/88). Significantly higher elevation of C-reactive protein and complement C3 was seen in the IRFR group compared with the non-IRFR group. Multivariate analysis showed higher CD34+ dose was a significant predictor for IRFR (p = 0.023; hazard ratio = 1.848; 95% confidence interval, 1.087-3.142). CONCLUSION: As a clinical feature belonging to haploidentical SCT, IRFR was associated with the higher numbers of CD34+ from PBSCs.