Bone Marrow Transplantation News

The incidence of graft-versus-host disease after related donor allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation was similar among patients who received tacrolimus with sirolimus or methotrexate, according to phase 3 study results.

Patients with severe combined immunodeficiency demonstrated improved survival when they underwent hematopoietic-cell transplantation at a younger age, before the onset of infection or after the infection resolved, according results of a retrospective analysis.

BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York recently redesignated Roswell Park Cancer Institute as a Blue Distinction Center for delivering quality transplant care as part of the Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care program. Approximately 100 Blue Distinction Centers for Transplants have been designated in the United States, with only four located in New York State.

High-dose melphalan chemotherapy plus salvage autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma significantly prolonged time to progression compared with conventional low-dose cyclophosphamide, according to results of a randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial.

Adults with sickle cell phenotype achieved a high rate of stable mixed-donor chimerism and disease reversal after they underwent non-myeloablative human leukocyte antigen-matched sibling allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, according to study results.

The theme of this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting, “Science and Society,” emphasized patient-centered focus — looking at the full implications of a study result for patient quality of life — and the overall societal value, or significance, of a finding or treatment.

The variety of bacteria found in the gastrointestinal tracts of patients who undergo allogeneic stem cell transplant may help predict post-transplant survival, according to study results.

Survival was decreased for cytomegalovirus-seronegative patients who received a hematopoietic allogeneic stem cell transplant, or HSCT, from an unrelated, seropositive donor, according to researchers with the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

In 2013, Science magazine designated cancer immunotherapy as its breakthrough of the year.

The use of total body irradiation for conditioning before hematopoietic cell transplantation varied widely among health care centers across 23 countries, study results showed.