News and Treatment Updates
Here's where you'll find a regularly updated, broad range of articles written by the AAMDSIF team, allied health organizations and news organizations. By staying well-informed, patients and families are practicing a form of self-support that will help them be more effective self-advocates when engaging with health care providers.
Safe, Successful Pregnancies Possible After AlloHCT
Originally Published: 07/15/2024
Article Source: External Web Content
Findings refute former consensus that pregnancies post-transplant are nearly impossible, highlight need for increased fertility counseling
(WASHINGTON, July 15, 2024) — Despite treatment-related fertility challenges, female patients can become pregnant and give birth to healthy children after undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT), according to a study published in Blood.
During alloHCT, stem cells from a healthy donor are transplanted to individuals with hematologic cancers or benign hematologic disorders such as leukemia and sickle cell disease. Procedural...
Adenovirus infections after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in children and adults: a study from the Infectious Diseases Working Party of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation
Originally Published: 07/10/2024
Article Source: External Web Content
Abstract
The objective of the study was the analysis of clinical types, outcomes, and risk factors associated with the outcome of adenovirus (ADV) infection, in children and adults after allo-HCT. A total number of 2529 patients (43.9% children; 56.1% adults) transplanted between 2000 and 2022 reported to the EBMT database with diagnosis of ADV infection were analyzed. ADV infection manifested mainly as viremia (62.6%) or gastrointestinal infection (17.9%). The risk of 1-year mortality was higher in adults (p = 0.0001), and in patients with ADV infection developing before day +100 (p < 0....
NMDP and CIBMTR share new, promising stem cell transplantation trial data using mismatched, unrelated donors at the 2024 EHA Congress
Originally Published: 06/14/2024
Article Source: External Web Content
MINNEAPOLIS, June 14, 2024 — NMDPSM, a global nonprofit leader in cell therapy, and the CIBMTR® (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research®) announced interim results from the ACCESS trial as an oral abstract during the European Hematology Association (EHA) Annual Meeting in Madrid, Spain. The study demonstrated that adults with hematologic malignancies who received peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplant from HLA-mismatched unrelated donors (MMUD) followed by post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD) prophylaxis exhibited a 79% overall...
FDA approves imetelstat for low- to intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndromes with transfusion-dependent anemia
Originally Published: 06/06/2024
Article Source: External Web Content
On June 6, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved imetelstat (Rytelo, Geron Corporation), an oligonucleotide telomerase inhibitor, for adults with low- to intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with transfusion-dependent anemia requiring four or more red blood cell units over 8 weeks who have not responded to or have lost response to or are ineligible for erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs).
Full prescribing information for Rytelo will be posted here.
Efficacy was evaluated in IMerge (NCT02598661), a randomized (2:1), double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter...
Blood and guts: how the intestinal microbiome shapes hematopoiesis and treatment of hematologic disease
Originally Published: 04/25/2024
Article Source: External Web Content
Abstract
Over the past 10 years, there has been a marked increase in recognition of the interplay between the intestinal microbiome and the hematopoietic system. Despite their apparent distance in the body, a large literature now supports the relevance of the normal intestinal microbiota to steady-state blood production, affecting both hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells as well as differentiated immune cells. Microbial metabolites enter the circulation where they can trigger cytokine signaling that influences hematopoiesis. Furthermore, the state of the microbiome is now recognized to...
Trends in Volumes and Survival After Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Originally Published: 04/25/2024
Article Source: External Web Content
Key Points
The number of autoHCT and alloHCT grew faster in Non-Hispanic African Americans and Hispanics compared to Non-Hispanic Whites.
Survival after autoHCT and alloHCT improved over time for all racial/ ethnic groups, though African Americans have worse outcomes.
There has been an increase in volume as well as improvement in overall survival (OS) after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for hematologic disorders. It is unknown if these changes have impacted racial/ethnic minorities equally. In this observational study from Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant...
Alternative donor transplantation for severe aplastic anemia: a comparative study of the SAAWP EBMT
Originally Published: 04/21/2024
Article Source: External Web Content
Key Points
SCT from MUD offers superior survival outcomes for severe aplastic anemia compared to both MMUD and Haplo.
The decision between a MMUD or Haplo donor in the absence of an available MUD remains uncertain.
Selecting the most suitable alternative donor becomes challenging in severe aplastic anemia (SAA) when a matched sibling donor (MSD) is unavailable. We compared outcomes in SAA patients undergoing SCT from matched unrelated donors (MUD, n=1106), mismatched unrelated donors (MMUD, n=340), and haploidentical donors (Haplo, n=206) registered in the EBMT database (2012-2021). For...
Comparison of Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation with Post-Transplantation Cyclophosphamide versus Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation in Adult Patients with Aplastic Anemia
Originally Published: 09/18/2023
Article Source: External Web Content
Highlights
Haploidentical stem cell transplantation with post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy-haplo) and umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) achieved similar overall survival in adult patients with aplastic anemia.
The rate of neutrophil engraftment was higher in the PTCy-haplo group than in the UCBT group.
The cumulative incidence of grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease was similar in the 2 groups.
Failure-free survival in patients age <40 years was higher in the PTCy-haplo group.
ABSTRACT
Aplastic anemia patients who are refractory to immunosuppressive therapy or...
Health-Related Quality of Life and Vulnerability among People with Myelodysplastic Syndromes: A US National Study
Originally Published: 05/03/2023
Article Source: External Web Content
Key Points
In MDS, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was worse for vulnerable participants and those with worse prognosis.
Lower-risk MDS was associated with better HRQoL, but this relationship was lost among the vulnerable.
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and vulnerability are variably affected in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and other cytopenic states; however, the heterogeneous composition of these diseases has limited our understanding of these domains. The NHLBI-sponsored MDS Natural History Study (NCT02775383) is a prospective cohort enrolling patients...
Real-World Validation of Molecular International Prognostic Scoring System for Myelodysplastic Syndromes
Originally Published: 03/17/2023
Article Source: External Web Content
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are heterogeneous myeloid neoplasms in which a risk-adapted treatment strategy is needed. Recently, a new clinical-molecular prognostic model, the Molecular International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-M) was proposed to improve the prediction of clinical outcome of the currently available tool (Revised International Prognostic Scoring System [IPSS-R]). We aimed to provide an extensive validation of IPSS-M.
METHODS
A total of 2,876 patients with primary MDS from the GenoMed4All consortium were retrospectively analyzed.
RESULTS
IPSS-M improved...