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Outcomes of reduced-intensity conditioning allo-SCT for Hodgkin's lymphoma: a national review by the Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 45, pages 1253–1255 (2010)Cite this article

Although the majority of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) are cured with primary therapy, between 20 and 30% of advanced-stage patients relapse after completion of treatment. If eligible, these patients proceed towards a curative auto-SCT (ASCT). Unfortunately, long-term follow-up shows that up to 50% of patients relapse after ASCT. Various treatments have been used in the post-ASCT setting, ranging from simple chemotherapy to aggressive transplant-based strategies. Myeloablative allo-SCT in HL has been used in advanced phases of the disease, but there have been significant concerns since the treatment-related mortality often exceeded 50% and relapses were not uncommon.1

The presence of a clinically significant graft-vs-HL effect had never been clearly shown until more recent reports described signs of an antitumour effect after donor lymphocyte infusion.2, 3 In addition to this demonstration of immune-mediated antitumour effect, the early treatment-related mortality of allogeneic transplantation has improved with the use of reduced-intensity conditioning allo-SCT (RIC-allo) strategies.4, 5, 6 We performed a retrospective review of RIC-allo for relapsed or refractory HL performed at transplant centers in Canada between June 1999 and December 2006.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Audrey Le at CBMTG for helping with data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    J Kuruvilla, D Stewart, S Lachance, M Power, F Couture, A Xenocostas, M Voralia, S Couban & R Foley

  2. Department of Biostatistics, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    M Pintilie

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  1. J Kuruvilla
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Correspondence to J Kuruvilla.

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Kuruvilla, J., Pintilie, M., Stewart, D. et al. Outcomes of reduced-intensity conditioning allo-SCT for Hodgkin's lymphoma: a national review by the Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group. Bone Marrow Transplant 45, 1253–1255 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2009.321

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