Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Adult allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a single centre experience in Malaysia

An interesting statistical piece... 

Gan GGZakaria ZSangkar JVHaris ARBee PCChin ETeh A.

Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

We analysed the outcome of 104 patients from a single institution who underwent allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) from their HLA-identical siblings between 1993 and 2006. 

Sixty-nine percent of patients had peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) as the stem cell source and the remaining had bone marrow (BM). 

The majority of patients are Chinese (60%) followed by Malays (24%) and Indians (14%). The median time to reach white cell counts of >1 x 10(9)/L and platelet counts of >30 x 10(9)/L was 13 and 15 days, respectively in patients who had PBSC transplantation compared with 16 and 25 days in patients who had BM transplantation, (p <>

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) of grade II to IV was observed in 34% of patients and chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) in 38% of patients. Although not statistically significant, there was a higher incidence of overall aGVHD in Indian patients (73%) compared to Chinese and Malays (57% and 56% respectively). There was no significant difference in the incidence of aGVHD and cGVHD with the source of stem cells. 

Overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) was 50% and 60% at five years respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that patients transplanted in standard risk and those who had limited cGVHD had a significant better OS, (p = 0.05 and p = 0.05). Patients who had cGVHD and transplanted in standard risk had a better DFS, (p = 0.002 and p <>

In summary, AHSCT in standard risk patients is associated with a better outcome than those transplanted in high risk and although not statistically significant, there is a higher incidence of aGVHD in Indian patients.


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