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COVID-19 has significantly impacted the practice of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and likely affected outcomes of HCT recipients. Early reports document substantially higher case fatality rates for HCT recipients than faced by the general population. The threat to individual patients is real, but at present, we do not have a clear picture of how much of this threat is present within the first year after HCT, as the majority of cases in early reports occurred after the first year. Still unknown is how infection rates and outcomes vary with time after HCT. This is important because center-specific survival estimates for reporting purposes focus on 1-year post-HCT mortality. Transplant centers have dramatically changed practices due to the pandemic. For many centers, quality assurance processes and procedures were disrupted, and these changes likely affected team performance. Centers have been affected unevenly by the pandemic, by time, location, and COVID-19 burden. Assessment of center-specific survival depends on the ability to adjust for risk factors such as COVID-19 that are outside center control using consistent methods so that team performance based on controllable risk factors can be ascertained. The Center of International Blood and Marrow Transplantation Research (CIBMTR) convened a working group for the 2020 Center Outcomes Forum (COF) to assess the impact of COVID-19 on both patient-specific risks and center-specific performance. This committee reviewed the factors at play and developed recommendations for a process to determine if adjustments in the methodology to assess center-specific performance are needed.

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) cures many patients, but often with the risk of late effects and impaired quality of life. The value of quantifying patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is increasingly being recognized, but the routine collection of PROs is uncommon. This study evaluated the feasibility of prospective PRO collection by an outcome registry at multiple time points from unselected HCT patients undergoing transplantation at centers contributing clinical data to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), and then it correlated the PRO data with clinical and demographic data.The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Bone Marrow Transplant (FACT-BMT), 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory measures were administered before HCT, on day 100, and at 6 and 12 months. Patients were recruited by the transplant center, but posttransplant PRO collection was managed centrally by the CIBMTR.There were 580 eligible patients, and 390 (67%) enrolled. Feasibility was shown by high time-specific retention rates (176 of 238 at 1 year or 74%) and participant satisfaction. Factors associated with higher response rates were an age 50 years (odds ratio [OR], 1.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03-2.41; P = .0355), white race (OR, 4.61; 95% CI, 2.66-7.99; P .0001), and being married (OR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.42-3.65; P = .0006) for adults and a higher family income for children (OR, 4.99; 95% CI, 2.12-11.75; P = .0002). Importantly, pre-HCT PRO scores independently predicted survival after adjustments for patient-, disease-, and transplant-related factors. The adjusted probabilities of 1-year survival were 56%, 67%, 75%, and 76% by increasing quartiles of the pre-HCT FACT-BMT score and 58%, 72%, 62%, and 82% by increasing quartiles of the pre-HCT SF-36 physical component score.A hybrid model of local consent for centralized PRO collection is feasible, and pretransplant PROs provide critical prognostic information for HCT outcomes. Cancer 2017;123:4687-4700. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

This secondary analysis of a large, multicenter Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network randomized trial assessed whether patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and socioeconomic status (SES) before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) are associated with each other and predictive of clinical outcomes, including time to hematopoietic recovery, acute graft-versus-host disease, hospitalization days, and overall survival (OS) among 646 allogeneic and autologous HCT recipients. Pretransplantation Cancer and Treatment Distress (CTXD), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and mental and physical component scores of the Short-Form 36 were correlated with each other and with SES variables. PROs and SES variables were further evaluated as predictors of clinical outcomes, with the PSQI and CTXD evaluated as OS predictors (P .01 considered significant given multiple testing). Lower attained education was associated with increased distress (P = .002), lower income was related to worse physical functioning (P = .005) and increased distress (P = .008), lack of employment before transplantation was associated with worse physical functioning (P .01), and unmarried status was associated with worse sleep (P = .003). In this large heterogeneous cohort of HCT recipients, although PROs and SES variables were correlated at baseline, they were not associated with any clinical outcomes. Future research should focus on HCT recipients at greater psychosocial disadvantage.

This secondary analysis of a large, multi-center Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) randomized trial assessed whether patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and socioeconomic status (SES) before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) are associated with each other and predictive of clinical outcomes including time to hematopoietic recovery, acute graft-versus-host disease, hospitalization days, and overall survival (OS) among 646 allogeneic and autologous HCT recipients. Pre-transplant Cancer and Treatment Distress (CTXD), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and mental and physical component scores (MCS and PCS) of the SF-36 were correlated with each other and with SES variables. PROs and SES variables were further evaluated as predictors of clinical outcomes, with the PSQI and CTXD evaluated as OS predictors (p

We describe long-term outcomes of autologous hematopoietic-cell transplantation (HCT) for 315 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients in first or second complete remission (CR). All patients were in continuous CR for ≥2-years post-HCT. Patients were predominantly transplanted in CR1 (78%) and had good or intermediate cytogenetic risk disease (74%). Median followup of survivors was 106 (range, 24-192) months. Overall survival at 10-years post-HCT was 94% (95% confidence intervals, 89-97%) and 80% (67-91%) for patients receiving HCT in CR1 and CR2, respectively. The cumulative incidence of relapse at 10-years post-HCT was 6% (3-10%) and 10% (3-20%) and that of non-relapse mortality was 5% (2-9%) and 11% (4-21%), respectively. On multivariate analysis, HCT in CR2 (vs. CR1), older age at transplantation and poor cytogenetic risk disease were independent predictors of late mortality and adverse disease-free survival. The use of growth factors to promote engraftment following HCT was the only risk factor for relapse. Relative-mortality of these 2-year survivors was comparable to that of age-, race- and gender-matched normal population. Patients who receive an autologous HCT for AML in CR1 or CR2 and remain in remission for ≥2-years have very favorable long-term survival. Their mortality rates are similar to that of the general population.

Prospective validation of the hematopoietic cell transplantation-comorbidity index (HCT-CI) using contemporary patients treated with hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) across the Unites States is necessary to confirm its widespread applicability. We performed a prospective observational study including all patients (8115 recipients of allogeneic and 11,652 recipients of autologous HCT) who underwent a first HCT that was reported to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research between 2007 and 2009. In proportional hazards models, increased HCT-CI scores were independently associated with increases in hazard ratios for nonrelapse mortality (NRM) (P.0001) and overall mortality (P.0001) among recipients of allogeneic HCT. HCT-CI scores of ≥3 were uniformly associated with higher risks for outcomes in both allogeneic and autologous HCT and in all subgroups, regardless of diagnoses, age, and conditioning intensity. Recipients of allogeneic HCT with scores of 1 and 2 who were ages18 years or were treated with lower intensity conditioning regimens had similar outcomes compared with those with a score of 0. Higher risks for overall mortality, but not for NRM, were observed among recipients of autologous HCT with scores of 1 and 2 versus 0. Our results confirm the validity the HCT-CI in both allogeneic and autologous HCT. The index should be used as a valid standard-of-care health measure in counseling patients for HCT, in clinical trial design, and in adjusting outcome analyses.

We compared outcomes of 916 diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients age ≥ 18 years undergoing first autologous (n=837) or myeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) (n=79) between 1995–2003 reported to the CIBMTR. Median follow-up was 81 months for allogeneic HCT vs. 60 months for autologous. Allogeneic HCT recipients were more likely to have high risk disease features including higher stage, more prior chemotherapy regimens and resistant disease. Allogeneic HCT was associated with a higher 1 year treatment-related mortality (TRM) (RR 4.88, 95% CI, 3.21–7.40, p50 years), lower performance score, chemoresistance and earlier year of transplant. In a cohort of mainly high risk DLBCL patients, upfront myeloablative allogeneic HCT while associated with increased early mortality was associated with a similar risk of disease progression compared to lower risk patients receiving autologous HCT.

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer have not experienced improvements in survival to the same extent as children and older adults. We compared outcomes among children (40 years) receiving allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) for acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Incorporation of the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab into front-line regimens for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has resulted in improved survival. Despite this progress, many patients develop refractory or recurrent DLBCL and then receive autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AuHCT). It is unclear to what extent pre-transplant exposure to rituximab affects outcomes following AuHCT. Outcomes of 994 patients receiving AuHCT for DLBCL between 1996 and 2003 were analyzed according to whether rituximab was (n=176, “+R” group) or was not (n=818, “ −R” group) administered with front-line or salvage therapy prior to AuHCT. The +R group had superior progression-free survival (50% versus 38%, p=0.008) and overall survival (57% versus 45%, p=0.006) at 3 years. Platelet and neutrophil engraftment were not affected by exposure to rituximab. Non-relapse mortality (NRM) did not differ significantly between the +R and −R groups. In multivariate analysis, the +R group had improved progression-free survival (relative risk of relapse/progression or death 0.64, p