Transplant program tops in expected one-year survival rate

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's stem-cell transplant program at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) was one of only two transplant programs nationwide that consistently outperformed the expected one-year survival rate for unrelated donor transplants, according to an independent report that assessed 122 transplant centers over a five-year period.

The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry examined the survival rates of 8,847 transplants performed to treat blood cancers at U.S. centers in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) network. The survival data was collected for the years 2002 through 2006 and patient outcomes were measured at the end of 2007. In each of five years, the Hutchinson Center "over performed" in terms of expected one-year survival rates after transplant. Only one other transplant center in the nation matched that record. The data was adjusted for several risk factors that could influence patient outcomes such as type of disease, its stage, patient age and degree of donor cell match.

Stem-cell and bone-marrow transplants are used to treat various leukemias, lymphomas and severe aplastic anemia.

"The study's findings reflect the extraordinary and longtime dedication by the staff of the Hutchinson Center and SCCA to improve the outcomes of our patients by continually refining transplantation to be a safer and more effective treatment," said Fred Appelbaum, M.D., executive director of the SCCA and director of the Hutchinson Center's Clinical Research Division.

The clinical use of bone-marrow and stem-cell transplantation was first developed at the Hutchinson Center and, subsequently, most of its practitioners were trained there. Patients who choose to have their transplants done at centers that do a high number of such procedures generally have better outcomes.

Required by federal law, the registry's annual report is designed to provide potential stem-cell transplant recipients, their families and the public with comparative survival rates among the transplant centers in the NMDP network.