3. Adverse events and quality of life
The AEs observed during MC are shown in Table 3. Hematological toxicity was the most frequent AE, occurring in 15 of 18 patients, and 7 of the 15 patients required blood transfusion. FN occurred in 6 patients who developed grade 3–4 hematological toxicity. Other infections (aspiration pneumonia and Herpes zoster ) were noted in 2 patients, respectively.
Fourteen patients received MC in outpatient settings, although they required long-term hospitalization before MC due to severe myelosuppression by cytotoxic chemotherapy. Six patients experienced AEs requiring hospitalization, with a median stay of 13 days.
Furthermore, we compared the incidence of FN and the number of blood transfusions in 9 patients with available detailed clinical records during cytotoxic chemotherapy before MC. The number of transfusions significantly decreased; median monthly incidence of transfusions were 0.83 during MC vs 0.0009 during chemotherapy before MC. Figure 4 shows the monthly incidence of FN during cytotoxic chemotherapy and MC; all patients, except for one, indicated an apparently decreased number of episodes. In terms of QOL, 10 out of 18 patients were of school age, and 5 (50%) of them continuously went to school while receiving MC, except while receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy. The remaining 8 patients were preschoolers, and 3 of them (38%) went to kindergarten or nursery school while receiving MC.