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Pre-existing central nervous system ( CNS) involvement may influence referral for autologous haematopoietic cell transplantation ( AHCT) for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma ( NHL). The outcomes of 151 adult patients with NHL with prior secondary CNS involvement ( CNS+) receiving an AHCT were compared to 4688 patients without prior CNS lymphoma ( CNS−). There were significant baseline differences between the cohorts. CNS+ patients were more likely to be younger, have lower performance scores, higher age-adjusted international prognostic index scores, more advanced disease stage at diagnosis, more aggressive histology, more sites of extranodal disease, and a shorter interval between diagnosis and AHCT. However, no statistically significant differences were identified between the two groups by analysis of progression-free survival ( PFS) and overall survival ( OS) at 5 years. A matched pair comparison of the CNS+ group with a subset of CNS− patients matched on propensity score also showed no differences in outcomes. Patients with active CNS lymphoma at the time of AHCT ( n = 55) had a higher relapse rate and diminished PFS and OS compared with patients whose CNS lymphoma was in remission ( n = 96) at the time of AHCT. CNS+ patients can achieve excellent long-term outcomes with AHCT. Active CNS lymphoma at transplant confers a worse prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early and reliable prediction of the likelihood of achieving adequate stem cell collection for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) would improve collection efficiency, prevent unnecessary aphereses, and permit appropriate treatment alterations. No previous study has reported a threshold CD34+ cell collection quantity on Day 1 or 2 of leukapheresis that could predict successful stem cell collection. We performed a retrospective analysis of all MM patients undergoing first attempt of stem cell collection at our institution from 2001 through 2008. Recursive partitioning analysis was used to identify Day 1 or Day 1+2 CD34+ collection quantity that predicted failure to reach target ≥2 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg within five days of collection. Totally, 172 patients were included in the analysis. Patients underwent mobilization with G-CSF or G-CSF+ chemotherapy. 23 of 172 patients (13.4%) failed to collect sufficient (≥2 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg) CD34+ cells after five days of apheresis: 22 of 29 who collected ≤0.70 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg and 1 of 143 who collected >0.70 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg (75.9% vs. 0.7%, P < 0.001) on Day 1. Collection failure occurred in 23 of 30 patients who collected ≤1.54 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg and 0 of 142 who collected >1.54 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg (76.7% vs. 0%, P < 0.001) on Days 1 + 2. Day 1 CD34+ cell collection quantity identifies patients unlikely to achieve adequate collection for ASCT. Patients who collect ≤0.70 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg on day 1 could be considered for treatment modifications to improve CD34+ collection, such as early administration of plerixafor or large volume apheresis. J. Clin. Apheresis, 2011. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is the preferred treatment modality for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). To assess long-term outcomes of these patients, we retrospectively analysed data from 309 consecutive patients who underwent ASCT for DLBCL between 1994 and 2006. We found that non-relapse mortality (NRM) became the major cause of death beginning approximately 8 years after ASCT. The most common causes of NRM during the study period were respiratory failure (31%), infection (13%), cardiac toxicity (15%) and secondary malignancy (15%). The strongest predictor of relapse mortality (RM) was disease status at transplant: patients who were in second or greater complete or partial remission had a higher risk of RM than those in first complete or partial remission [hazard ratio (HR) 3·7, P < 0·001], as did those who were relapsed or refractory (HR 4·9, P < 0·001). We describe the longest reported follow-up of a large cohort of DLBCL patients uniformly-treated with ASCT. Although relapse was initially the more likely cause of death, NRM exceeded RM after 8 years. After ASCT, surviving patients have significantly increased risk mortality rates relative to the general population and this excess risk persists over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study regarding the medical case of 16 haemotological malignancy patients. The study uses total body irradiation (TBI), etoposide and antithymocyte globulin (ATG) to conduct multiple unit umbilical cord blood transplantation (MU-UCBT). The result shows that three patients experienced early deaths and one had graft failure but was infused with cryopreserved remission autologous bone marrow and remains alive in complete remission for 1056 days.

The long-term follow-up is presented for 317 patients with acute myeloid leukaemia who underwent human leucocyte antigen-identical sibling marrow transplants between 1984 and 1995 following preparation with busulfan 16 mg/kg and cyclophosphamide 120 mg/kg. Among the 142 (45%) who were alive and leukaemia-free 3 years following transplantation, the leukaemia-free survival at 15 years was 72·8%. The cumulative incidence of late (>3 years beyond transplant) non-relapse mortality at 15 years was 12·9% and of late relapse was 16·5%. None of the variables considered (including age, disease stage, and graft- versus-host disease) were predictive of late failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) with cyclophosphamide, etoposide and oral busulfan (BuCyVP) is an effective therapy for relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Substituting intravenous for oral busulfan reduces variability in drug exposure, potentially improving the safety and efficacy of the BuCyVP regimen. We retrospectively compared the outcomes of 604 consecutively treated patients who underwent ASCT for NHL with BuCyVP using oral ( n = 468) or IV ( n = 136) busulfan, without measurement of busulfan levels for pharmacokinetic (PK) analysis. Patients who received oral busulfan experienced more severe oral mucositis and a higher incidence of nonrelapse mortality. Median overall survival (OS) after ASCT was 72 months with oral busulfan but was not reached for the IV busulfan group. IV busulfan was associated with a lower rate of relapse, and superior relapse-free survival (RFS) and OS. In multivariate models, the route of busulfan administration was an independent prognostic factor for relapse ( P = 0·01), RFS ( P = 0·002) and OS ( P = 0·001). IV busulfan appears to provide better efficacy and lower toxicity than oral busulfan in ASCT with BuCyVP for NHL. Whether PK-based busulfan dosing can achieve further improvements in this setting is worthy of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to predict clinical outcomes is essential to accurate medical decision analysis. Many accepted bone marrow transplant related prognostic variables are derived from data that is over 20-years old and may or may not be applicable to current medical practice. This report reviews both older data concerning bone marrow transplantation prognostic factors as well as more current reports. In addition to pretransplant variables, this review examines easily measured post-transplant variables that may affect prognosis, as well as data concerning the cellular component of the infused graft in both allogeneic and autologous transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. We studied the association between CD34 cell dose and transplant outcomes in 359 bone marrow (BM) and 511 peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplant recipients from human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-identical siblings, reported to the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry (IBMTR). Transplants for leukaemia were performed between 1995 and 1998. Patients were divided into those receiving below or above the median CD34+ dose, for BM (3 × 106 /kg) and PBSC (6 × 106 /kg) grafts respectively. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to adjust for baseline patient-, disease- and transplant-related characteristics. Analysis of the BM recipients showed that high CD34 cell dose was associated with lower transplant-related mortality [relative risk (RR) = 0·60, P = 0·033] and treatment failure (inverse of leukaemia-free survival, RR = 0·69, P = 0·032). Among PBSC recipients, high CD34 dose was associated with faster recovery of neutrophils to > 0·5 × 109 /l (RR = 1·38, P < 0·001) and platelets to > 20 × 109 /l (RR = 1·34, P = 0·003), lower risk of relapse (RR = 0·62, P = 0·029) and treatment failure (RR = 0·74, P = 0·03). We conclude that higher CD34 cell doses decrease treatment failure in recipients of HLA-identical sibling BM and PBSC transplants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. We evaluated transplant-related mortality (TRM), leukaemia relapse, leukaemia-free survival (LFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients receiving busulphan and cyclophosphamide (BuCy) or cyclophosphamide and total body irradiation (CyTBI) prior to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) in first remission. Outcomes of 381 human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-matched sibling transplants using BuCy were compared with 200 transplants using CyTBI performed between 1988 and 1996. The incidence of hepatic veno-occlusive disease was higher with BuCy (13%) than with CyTBI (6%) (P = 0·009). Risks of acute and chronic GVHD were similar. In multivariate analysis, relapse risk was higher in the BuCy group [relative risk (RR) = 1·72; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1·05–2·81; P = 0·031]. Eleven of 373 evaluable patients in the BuCy group had a central nervous system relapse in contrast to none of 194 evaluable patients in the CyTBI group (P = 0·016). There were no differences in TRM, LFS and OS. CyTBI conditioning may lower relapse risk but produces comparable TRM, LFS and OS to BuCy for HLA-matched sibling transplantation in first remission AML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]