Granulocyte transfusions for patients with severe thermal burns

Ten severely burned (greater than 50% BSA) pediatric and young adult patients developed 19 episodes of clinical sepsis of four or more days duration. During eight of the 19 septic episodes the patients received granulocyte transfusions (median, four; range, two to seven). Risk variables, types and prevalence of infections, mainly Pseudomonas aeruginosa and antibiotic regimens were similar for all the septic episodes studied. All eight episodes (100%) resolved in the transfused group while eight of 11 (72%) episodes resolved in the nontransfused group. Patients survived four episodes of ecthyma gangrenosum when granulocyte transfusions were used and the single episode in which they were not used was fatal. Granulocyte transfusions may be helpful in severely burned patients with sepsis.