Carbimazole induced agranulocytosis: rescue with human recombinant granulocyte colony stimulating factor.

We report on a 25 yr old woman with primary autoimmune hyperthyroidism who was treated with carbimazole. Forty-three days later she developed agranulocytosis (64 x 10(6)/l). With 4 days treatment with recombinant human Granulocyte Colony Stimulating factor the granulocyte count rose to normal--4,350 cells x 10(6)/l. This is considerably faster than the rate of spontaneous recovery which usually takes one to 2 weeks.