Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with advanced indolent lymphoproliferative disorders

BACKGROUND: The role of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for advanced indolent lymphoproliferative disorders remains to be established. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to describe the results of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with advanced indolent lymphoproliferative disorders. METHODS: This article reports on 29 adult patients submitted to allogeneic transplantations from 1997 to 2010. RESULTS: Most had follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 14) or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (n = 12). The median age was 44 years (range: 24–53 years) and 65% of patients were male. Only 21% had had access to rituximab and 45% to fludarabine. All had advanced disease (stage IV) with partial response or stable disease. Most underwent myeloablative conditioning n = 17 – 59%). In this scenario, refractory disease was observed in seven (24%) patients, the 100-day mortality rate was 17% (n = 5) and relapse occurred in four patients (18%). The main cause of death throughout the follow up was refractory disease in six of the 12 patients who died. Moderate and severe chronic graft-versus-host disease was frequent; about 41% of 24 patients analyzed. The overall survival rates and disease free survival at 42 months were 56.7% and 45.4%, respectively. According to Kaplan–Meyer analysis, the median time from diagnosis to transplant predicted the overall survival; however age, gender and conditioning regimen did not predict the prognosis. It was impossible to reach other conclusions because of the small sample size in this study. CONCLUSIONS: The role of allogeneic transplantations should be re-evaluated in the era of targeted therapy.