CIBMTR report shows higher survival rate for patients treated at RPCI's BMT program

Outcomes for patients treated through the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) are among the highest in the nation. For the second consecutive year, a report compiled by the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) shows that the one-year survival rate for transplant patients treated at RPCI was significantly higher than expected, affirming RPCI's position among the elite of U.S. centers performing the procedure.

Blood and marrow transplantation (BMT), which involves infusion of bone marrow or hematopoietic cells from the patient or a donor, is commonly used to treat many blood cancers, including some forms of leukemia, multiple myeloma and lymphoma. The CIBMTR is an international research organization that collects and publishes data from centers that perform BMT, toward the goal of advancing hematopoietic cell transplantation and cellular therapy research worldwide.

According to the CIBMTR's 2011 report, which was based on data for transplants performed between 2007 and 2009, risk-adjusted one-year survival for patients transplanted at RPCI was significantly superior to the predicted outcome, placing RPCI among the top 9 percent of U.S. centers offering BMT. The CIBMTR adjusts raw data to account for the level of risk represented among a facility's transplanted population, based on factors such as degree of tissue match/mismatch and type of transplant. The Center assigned the RPCI program to the highest possible risk category, indicating that its BMT cases for the period were among the most complex and difficult in the nation.

"It's enormously gratifying to see our efforts translate to documented quality improvement. We provide care for very high-risk patients, and it's exciting to know that our approaches are working even among this very high-risk group," said Lisa Privitere, RN, BSN, OCN, Nurse Administrator for RPCI's Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. "The CIBMTR report underscores just how important multidisciplinary care and evidence-based approaches are for success in treating cancer through BMT. I know they've made a difference for our patients."