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Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation is a curative procedure for hematologic malignancies but is associated with a significant risk of non-relapse mortality (NRM). The Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation- Comorbidity Index (HCT-CI) is a prognostic tool that discriminates this risk in all age groups. A recent survey of transplant physicians demonstrated that 79% of pediatric providers used the HCT-CI infrequently, and most reported concerns about its applicability in the younger population. We conducted a retrospective study using the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) database to examine the impact of expanded HCT-CI definitions on NRM in pediatric and young adult patients with hematologic malignancies. We included 5,790 patients40 years old receiving allogeneic transplant between 2008 and 2017 to examine broader definitions of comorbidities in the HCT-CI, including history of mechanical ventilation and fungal infection, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and body mass index (BMI) percentiles. Multivariable Fine-Gray models were created to determine the effect of each HCT-CI defining comorbidity and its modification on NRM, and were utilized to develop two novel risk scores. We next developed the expanded HCT-CI for children and young adults (youth with malignancies; expanded ymHCT-CI), where 23% patients had an increased comorbidity score, compared to the HCT-CI. Comorbidities with hazard ratio (HR)1.2 were then removed to create the simplified HCT-CI for children and young adults (youth with malignancies; simplified ymHCT-CI), which demonstrated higher scores corresponded to a greater risk of NRM (p0.001). These novel comorbidity indices with broader definitions are more relevant to pediatric and young adult patients, and prospective studies are needed to validate these in the younger patient population. It remains to be seen if the development of these pediatric-specific and practical risk indices increases their utilization by the pediatric transplant community.

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) can cure many nonmalignant conditions, but concern for morbidity and mortality remains. To help physicians estimate patient-specific transplant mortality risk, the HCT comorbidity index (HCT-CI) is used. However, pediatric physicians use the HCT-CI less frequently than adult counterparts. We used the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research database to expand the HCT-CI comorbidity definitions to be more inclusive of children and adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients, adding history of mechanical ventilation, history of invasive fungal infection, assessment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) by estimated glomerular filtration rate, expanding the definition of obesity, and adding an underweight category. A total of 2815 children and AYAs (40 years old) who received first allogeneic HCT for nonmalignant diseases from 2008 to 2017 were included to create an expanded youth nonmalignant HCT-CI (expanded ynHCT-CI) and a simplified non-malignant (simplified ynHCT-CI) HCT-CI. The expanded comorbidities occurred frequently-history of mechanical ventilation (9.6%), history of invasive fungal infection (5.9%), mild CKD (12.2%), moderate/severe CKD (2.1%), obesity (10.9%), and underweight (14.5%). Thirty-nine percent of patients had an increase in their comorbidity score using the expanded ynHCT-CI, leading to a redistribution of scores: ynHCT-CI score 0 (35%), 1-2 (36.4%), and ≥3 (28.6%). Patients with an increase in their comorbidity score had an increased hazard of mortality compared to those whose score remained the same (hazard ratio = 1.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.98). Modifications to the HCT-CI can benefit children and AYA patients with nonmalignant diseases, creating a risk assessment tool that is clinically relevant and better captures comorbidity in this younger population.

Noninfectious pulmonary toxicity (NPT), a significant complication of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT), includes idiopathic pneumonia syndrome (IPS), diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH), and cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP), with an overall incidence ranging from 1% to 15% in different case series and a variable mortality rate. A registry study of the epidemiology and outcomes of NPT after alloHCT has not been conducted to date. The primary objective of the present study was to assess the incidence of and risk factors for IPS, DAH, and COP; the secondary objective was to assess overall survival (OS) in patients developing NPT. This retrospective study included adult patients who underwent alloHCT between 2008 and 2017 and reported to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were developed to identify the risk factors for development of NPT and for OS, by including pretransplantation clinical variables and time-dependent variables of neutrophil and platelet recovery, and acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) post-transplantation. This study included 21,574 adult patients, with a median age of 55 years. According to the HCT Comorbidity Index (HCT-CI), 24% of the patients had moderate pulmonary comorbidity and 15% had severe pulmonary comorbidity. The cumulative incidence of NPT at 1 year was 8.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 7.7% to 8.5%). Individually, the 1-year cumulative incidences of IPS, DAH, and COP were 4.9% (95% CI, 4.7% to 5.2%), 2.1% (95% CI, 1.9% to 2.3%), and .7% (95% CI, .6% to .8%), respectively. Multivariable analysis showed that severe pulmonary comorbidity, grade II-IV acute GVHD, mismatched unrelated donor and cord blood transplantation, and HCT-CI score ≥1 significantly increased the risk of NPT. In contrast, alloHCT performed in 2014 or later, non-total body irradiation (TBI)- and TBI-based nonmyeloablative conditioning and platelet recovery were associated with a decreased risk. In a landmark analysis at day+100 post-transplantation, the risk of DAH was significantly lower in patients who had platelet recovery by day +100. Multivariable analysis for OS demonstrated that NPT significantly increased the mortality risk (hazard ratio, 4.2; P.0001).

T cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL) is a rare, aggressive malignancy with limited treatment options and poor long-term survival. Previous studies of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) for T-PLL are limited by small numbers, and descriptions of patient and transplantation characteristics and outcomes after alloHCT are sparse. In this study, we evaluated outcomes of alloHCT in patients with T-PLL and attempted to identify predictors of post-transplantation relapse and survival. We conducted an analysis of data using the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research database on 266 patients with T-PLL who underwent alloHCT between 2008 and 2018. The 4-year rates of overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), relapse, and treatment-related mortality (TRM) were 30.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 23.8% to 36.5%), 25.7% (95% CI, 20% to 32%), 41.9% (95% CI, 35.5% to 48.4%), and 32.4% (95% CI, 26.4% to 38.6%), respectively. In multivariable analyses, 3 variables were associated with inferior OS: receipt of a myeloablative conditioning (MAC) regimen (hazard ratio [HR], 2.18; P < .0001), age >60 years (HR, 1.61; P = .0053), and suboptimal performance status, defined by Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) 90 or chemosensitive disease.

Young adult (YA) survivors of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) are at risk for late psychosocial challenges, including the inability to return to work post-HCT. Work-related outcomes in this population remain understudied, however. We conducted this study to assess the post-HCT work status of survivors of allogeneic HCT who underwent HCT as YAs and to analyze the patient-, disease-, and HCT-related factors associated with their work status at 1 year post-HCT. Using Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research data, we evaluated the post-HCT work status (full-time, part-time work, unemployed, or medical disability) of 1365 YA HCT survivors who underwent HCT between 2008 and 2015. Percentages of work status categories were reported at 4 time points: 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years post-HCT. Percentages of post-HCT work status categories at the 1-year time point were also described in relation to survivors' pre-HCT work status categories. Factors associated with 1-year post-HCT work status (full-time or part-time work) were examined using logistic regression. From 6 months to 3 years post-HCT, the percentage of survivors working full-time increased from 18.3% to 50.7% and the percentage working part-time increased from 6.9% to 10.5%. Of patients in full-time work pre-HCT, 50% were unemployed or on medical disability at 1 year post-HCT. Female sex (odds ratio [OR], 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.40 to 0.77), HCT Comorbidity Index score ≥3 (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.82), pre-HCT unemployment (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.24 to 0.56), medical disability (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.70), development of grade III-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.34 to 0.80), and relapse within 1 year post-HCT (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.56) were associated with a lower likelihood of employment at 1 year post-HCT. Compared with myeloablative conditioning (MAC) with total body irradiation (TBI), MAC without TBI (OR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.16 to 2.53) was associated with a greater likelihood of employment at 1 year post-HCT. Graduate school-level education (OR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.49 to 4.10) was also associated with a greater likelihood of employment at 1 year post-HCT. Although the work status among YA HCT survivors continued to improve over time, a substantial subset became or remained unemployed or on medical disability. These findings underscore the need for effective interventions to support return to work in this population.

The benefits of pre-transplant induction chemotherapy in light chain (AL) amyloidosis, a low burden plasma cell (PC) neoplasm associated with multiorgan dysfunction, is debatable, although with the availability of bortezomib, this approach is being increasingly pursued. We analyzed the outcomes of AL amyloidosis patients undergoing autologous hematopoietic cell transplant between 2014 and 2018 that were reported to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research database. Of 440 patients, 294 received bortezomib-based induction, and 146 received no induction. Patients receiving induction had greater PC burden compared to no induction (PC 10% or more, 39% versus 11%; P.01). At 2 years, the induction group compared to no induction had lower relapse/progression: 13% (9% to 18%) versus 23% (16% to 32%) (P = .02); better progression-free survival (PFS): 82% (77% to 87%) versus 69% (61% to 77%) (P.01); and similar overall survival (OS): 92% (88% to 95%) versus 89% (84% to 94%) (P = .22), findings that were confirmed on multivariate analysis. A subset analysis limited to patients with10% PC also showed superior relapse/progression (hazard ratio [HR], .43; 95% confidence interval [CI], .24 to .78; P.01) and PFS (HR, .43; 95% CI, .26 to .72; P.01) for induction compared to no induction. Thus, we conclude that pre-transplant bortezomib-based induction was associated with improved relapse/progression and PFS in AL amyloidosis. Longer survival follow-up is warranted, as OS was excellent in both cohorts at 2 years.