Medical and psychosocial issues in transplant survivors

Abstract

Survival rates for hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) have improved with advances in supportive care that have reduced acute, transplant-related mortality. More than 40,000 transplants were performed worldwide in 2002, mostly for the treatment of leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma1 (see Chapters 63 through 69 for discussions of specific diseases). The probability of successful transplantation is generally greater for patients transplanted early in their disease course, for younger patients, and for patients who receive stem cells from donors whose human leukocyte antigens (HLA) match the patient's. For survivors who receive HCT for acute leukemia or chronic myeloid leukemia and who remain free of disease after 2 years, the probability of living 5 or more years is 89%. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.