A single center’s experience using four different front line mobilization strategies in lymphoma patients planned to undergo autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation

In an otherwise eligible patient with relapsed lymphoma, inadequate mobilization of peripheral blood stem cells is a limiting factor to proceeding with an autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (auto-HCT). Multiple strategies have been used to mobilize an adequate number of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) with no obvious front-line strategy. We report a single institutional experience mobilizing HSCs using four different approaches in lymphoma patients. We prospectively collected mobilization outcomes on patients planning to undergo auto-HCT at Ohio State University. We report results of first mobilization attempt for all relapsed or refractory lymphoma patients between 2008–2014. We identified 255 lymphoma patients who underwent mobilization for planned auto-HCT. The 255 lymphoma patients underwent the following front line mobilization strategies: 95 (37%) GCSF alone, 38 (15%) chemomobilization (GCSF+chemotherapy), 97 (38%) preemptive day 4 plerixafor, and 25 (10%) rescue day 5 plerixafor. As expected, there were significant differences between cohorts including age, comorbid indices, histology, and amount of prior chemotherapy. After controlling for differences between groups, the odds of collecting 2×10(6)/kg HSCs on the first day of collection and 5×10(6)/kg HSCs in total was highest in the cohort undergoing chemomobilization. In conclusion, our experience highlights the effectiveness of chemomobilization.