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Umbilical Cord Blood Transfusions in AML

Are they effective in older patients?

Publish date:: September 30, 2015

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation is feasible in selected patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) who are aged ≥ 70 years, according to a study of 70 patients with AML/MDS who met the age criterion. Researchers found:

• Cumulative incidence on non-relapse mortality and relapse was 20% and 30% at 2 years, respectively.

• Cumulative incidence of graft versus host disease (GVHD) at day +100 and chronic GVHD at 2 years was 10%.

• 7 patients had viral reactivation infections.

• Overall survival and disease-free survival were 60% and 50%, respectively, at 2 years.

• Outcomes were similar to patients aged 60 to 69 years receiving UCB transplantation and to patients aged ≥ 70 years receiving HLA full-matched sibling donor transplantation.

Citation: Sandhu KS, Brunstein C, DeFor T, et al. Umbilical cord blood transplantation outcomes in acute myelogenous leukemia/myelodysplastic syndromes patients ≥ 70 years old. [Published online ahead of print September 25, 2015]. Biol Blood Marrow Trans. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbmt.2015.09.020.

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