Jci_page_head_homepage_01 Jci_page_head_homepage_02
Article tools
  • View PDF
  • Cite this article
  • E-mail this article
  • Share this article
  • Send a letter
  • Information on reuse
  • Standard abbreviations
Author information
Need help?

Articles

Granulocyte Transfusion Therapy of Experimental Pseudomonas Pneumonia

David C. Dale, Herbert Y. Reynolds, James E. Pennington, Ronald J. Elin, Terry W. Pitts and Robert G. Graw, Jr.

Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014Division of Research Services, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014Experimental Hematology Section, Pediatric Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

Published September 1974

Pseudomonas pneumonia was produced in dogs with radiation-induced leukopenia. Treatment of this infection with either gentamicin alone or gentamicin plus daily granulocyte transfusion was compared in a randomized controlled trail. The dogs receiving granulocytes plus gentamicin survived significantly longer than those treated with gentamicin alone (P < 0.05). The Pseudomonas immunotype which was inoculated into the dogs were recovered at autopsy from none of the granulocyte-transfused dogs, whereas seven or eight of the dogs treated with gentamicin alone had the inoculated Pseudomonas immunotype in the area of induced pneumonia at autopsy. As measured by the limulus test, the granulocyte-transfused dogs also did not have endotoxemia as frequently as the dogs given only gentamicin (P < 0.05). This controlled study establishes that transfused granulocytes can favorably alter the course of experimental Pseudomonas pneumonia and suggests that granulocyte transfusion may be a useful therapy in serious bacterial infections of leukopenic subjects.

Browse pages

Click on an image below to see the page. View PDF of the complete article