Transfusion requirement can be abolished by epoietin-alpha and autologous platelet predeposit in patients receiving high dose chemotherapy with stem cell support

In patients undergoing high dose sequential chemotherapy (HDS) for breast cancer (BC),(1) allogeneic platelet transfusions can be avoided by using cryopreserved autologous platelets.(2) Nevertheless, half of these patients develop a mild anemia before myeloblation, requiring eventually blood transfusion. In this cohort of patients, we evaluated the efficacy of recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO)(3,4) in preventing the development of anemia, and therefore any allogeneic transfusion requirement.