Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Outcomes in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia from a Tertiary Care Center in South Inida

Background Allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is one of the best therapies for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and a proven post-remission therapy for intermediate and high-risk AML. The best HSCT source seems to be a matched sibling donor (MSD), but in the absence of one, a readily available haplo-identical donor provides an equally high cure rate. This is of relevance in a developing country like India as the cost of an unrelated donor is usually unaffordable. We present our experience from a single centre. Methods We analysed retrospective data of 122 AML patients who have undergone HSCT between Jan-2012 to Jun-2019 at our centre. Fludarabine + Busulfan or Fludarabine + Melphalan based conditioning regimen were used in MSD transplant and John Hopkins's protocol was followed in haploidentical HSCT. Cyclosporine + methotrexate was used as GVHD prophylaxis in MSD and unrelated donor group and cyclophosphamide + tacrolimus + mycophenolate was used for haploidentical post-transplant. Day 100 Survival, overall survival, incidence of GVHD and CMV reactivation was computed. Results Out of 122 patients, 69 (56.6%) were males, the mean age was 29.05±20.13 (range, 1 -74) years. Peripheral blood stem cell (99%) was the predominant graft source with majority of matched sibling donor (MSD; 54.1%) compared to Haplo-identical donors (30%). Figure 1 shows the demographic and clinical details of the study patients. The incidence of acute GVHD (40.9% vs 32.6%; p=0.372) and chronic GVHD (16.7% vs 15.2%; p=0.837) are similar in MSD and Haplo transplantation. There were 25 (38%) deaths in MSD and 23 (50%) deaths haplo-identical transplantation (p=0.245). The day-100 survival and overall survival function is significantly better in MSD transplantation (p Conclusion Our study showed comparable outcomes in MSD and Haplo-identical transplant with respect to incidence of GVHD and mortality. However, the survival function is better with MSD transplantation. Haplo-identical transplant is a feasible option in case of non-availability of MSD, due to ease of donor availability and strong motivation from the family donor to donate the stem cells.