Usage of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor every 2 days is clinically useful and cost-effective for febrile neutropenia during early courses of chemotherapy

Background In order to analyze the clinical activity and cost-effectiveness of granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (G-CSF), the prophylactic usage of G-CSF in patients treated with a single chemotherapy regimen during early courses was prospectively evaluated. Methods Thirty patients with newly diagnosed non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) treated with the first course of an R-CHOP regimen were enrolled randomly. After treatment with the first course of chemotherapy, a daily dose of G-CSF (lenograstim, 100 μg) was administered to half (15 cases) of the patients, and a dose of G-CSF (100 μg) was administered every other day to the other half of the patients when leukocytopenia (