Experience with the first 200 allogeneic blood cell transplants (BCT) in Calgary

Allogenic peripheral blood stem cells transplantation (BCT, allo-PBSCT) have an established place in currently active protocols at the University of Calgary, we now use BCT as the third approach for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first complete remission (CR). For chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) beyond first chronic phase (CP) and other hematological malignancies BCT gives outcomes at least equivalent to bone marrow transplantation (BMT). BCT recipients benefit from faster engraftment. However a tendency to develop more graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is observed. Bone marrow is still the preferred source of stem cells for CML in first CP and for patients with non-malignant disorders. The ability to obtain high number of blood cells allows us to be able to perform haptoidentical transplants using T-cell depletion and to obtain engraftment in most cases. Refining tha latter technique however remains a challenge particularly with respect to immune reconstitution.