Practical considerations in the use of tacrolimus for allogeneic marrow transplantation Correspondence to: Dr D Przepiorka, Baylor College of Medicine, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, 6565 Fannin St, M964, Houston, TX 77030, USA Tacrolimus has been shown to be more effective than cyclosporine for prevention of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). A number of transplant centers have therefore adopted tacrolimus as standard prophylaxis, but with additional experience, current management of tacrolimus differs from that in the clinical studies. Therefore, a consensus conference was convened to assess the current practices. For prevention of GVHD, conference participants recommended administering tacrolimus at 0.03 mg/kg/day (by lean body weight) i.v. by continuous infusion from day -1 or -2 pretransplant, with day -2 used especially for pediatric patients. Therapeutic drug monitoring was considered essential in the management of patients on tacrolimus.
