Caitlin Raymond: Granulocyte Transfusions for the Overworked Fellow
Caitlin Raymond, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Transfusion Medicine at University of Wisconsin-Madison, shared a post on Linkedin:
“New post: Granulocyte Transfusions for the Overworked Fellow.
Someone suggests granulocytes for your profoundly neutropenic, fungal-infected, not-responding patient. You nod. You place the consult. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a small voice asks: does this actually work?
That voice deserves an honest answer.
Here’s what the literature actually gives us:
- The biological rationale is sound. No neutrophils, no innate immune response. Supplementing from the outside makes mechanistic sense.
- The RING trial was the most rigorous attempt to test this — randomized, adequately powered, mortality endpoint. It didn’t show a survival benefit.
- But RING had a problem: delivered doses were consistently below what’s considered therapeutic. If you can’t reliably deliver the intervention, you can’t cleanly interpret the result.
- The amphotericin timing rule? Traced back to a single 1981 paper. Subsequent studies failed to replicate it. The practice outlived the evidence.
- The 1 × 10¹⁰ dose target is real — but collection yields are variable, and hitting it is not guaranteed even with G-CSF and dexamethasone stimulation.
We have not arrived at a definitive answer on whether granulocyte transfusions improve survival. We tried hard to find out. The best trial we have had a fatal flaw in its ability to deliver the intervention reliably.
Knowing the limits of the evidence is not a failure of clinical knowledge. It is the clinical knowledge.”
Other posts featuring Caitlin Raymond on Hemostasis Today.
-
Oct 9, 2026, 16:23David Boone: Distinguishing Stroke Prevention from Rhythm Control in Atrial Fibrillation
-
Oct 9, 2026, 15:27Mohamed Hegazi: Geostatistical Modelling Maps Global β-Thalassaemia Carrier Prevalence
-
Oct 9, 2026, 15:15Maha Othman: Uncovering the Consensus on TXA in TBI – Call for Collaboration on a Landmark Umbrella Review
-
Oct 9, 2026, 15:07Daniel D. Han: How Inhalation Product Exposure Impairs Cardiac and Platelet Recovery After MI
-
Oct 9, 2026, 14:58William Toole: How Ultrasound-Guided PRP Therapy Relieves Joint and Tendon Pain
-
Oct 9, 2026, 14:50Shayan Mohammadmoradi: In Corpus Christi for the 20th Midwest Platelet Conference
-
Oct 9, 2026, 14:37Tariq Tramboo: High Platelet Concentrate for Osteoarthritis Knee – Recent Meta-Analyses
-
Oct 9, 2026, 14:26Yousma Khan: Hematology Series – Beyond RBCs, WBCs and Platelets
-
Oct 9, 2026, 14:13Jesus Ardila Novoa: Why the WHO’s Historic Essential Medicines List Decision Is Just the Beginning