Administration of prednisolone intravenously or dexamethason orally in random donors reveals equal results in granulocyte collection: a single centre experience.

Since cytokine--mobilization for granulocyte collections in random donors--is not licensed in Austria, we investigated in a prospective analysis the effects of prednisolone or dexamethasone (DXM) in 153 donors (35 women/118 men) and in the collected products. Either prednisolone (50 mg) intravenously 4 h before granulocyte collection or DXM (8 mg) orally 12 h before collection was given. Collections were performed with the Cobe Spectra (CardianBCT, Lakewood). We recorded a significantly higher percentage of granulocytes in the peripheral blood of the DXM. However, the collected number of granulocytes was equal in both groups.