Immature granulocyte count after liver transplantation.
We evaluated the significance of immature granulocyte (IG) count during the clinical course after liver transplantation. We counted IG using the flow cytometric method with CD16, CD11b, and CD45 antibodies. Samples were obtained from 31 patients in the Department of Transplantation and Immunology, and we determined (i) the distribution of IG peak value, (ii) the distribution of IG peak time-points, (iii) the clinical background of patients with high IG, and (iv) the clinical course of high IG cases. We observed the appearance of IG (100/microl or higher) in the majority of the patients (23 out of 31 patients; 74.2%). The IG peak was detected on the 19th day after transplantation. We observed serious complications, such as melena, rejection, or severe infection, in high IG (500/microl or higher) cases. We observed instances of inflammation with low C-reactive protein (CRP) value in the presence of IG. We believe that IG is a useful marker to monitor inflammation.
Shiga
Shuichi
S
Department of Central Clinical Laboratory, Kyoto University Hospital, Japan. sshiga@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Fujimoto
Hiroyuki
H
Mori
Yusuke
Y
Sakata
Takashi
T
Hamaguchi
Yukio
Y
Wang
Fu-sheng
FS
Inomata
Yukihiro
Y
Tohyama
Kaoru
K
Ichiyama
Satoshi
S
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000097:blood; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007239:Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008551:Melena / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology; D011379:Prognosis; D013997:Time Factors
D015415:Biomarkers