Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation for Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Leukemia-free survival after transplantation of umbilical cord blood in adults was similar to that after traditional forms of unrelated donor stem-cell transplantation.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) from a matched related or unrelated donor can cure an adult with relapsed or high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, because many of these patients lack a suitable donor, umbilical cord blood has been explored as a stem-cell source for transplantation.

In a retrospective analysis of international transplantation registries, researchers identified 1525 patients, aged 16 or older, who had undergone HSCT at 1 of 216 centers from 2002 through 2006. The transplanted cells were from umbilical cord blood (UCB) in 165 patients, unrelated-donor bone marrow (BM) in 472, and unrelated-donor peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPCs) in 888.

Leukemia-free survival rates at 2 years were not…

Reviewing Author

Michael E. Williams, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardAbbVie; AstraZeneca; Beigene; Janssen; Pharmacyclics

Grant/Research SupportJanssen

Editorial BoardsAmerican Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Hematology Longitudinal Knowledge Approval Committee

Michael E. Williams, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardAbbVie; AstraZeneca; Beigene; Janssen; Pharmacyclics

Grant/Research SupportJanssen

Editorial BoardsAmerican Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Hematology Longitudinal Knowledge Approval Committee