Severe metabolic abnormalities after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

Severe metabolic abnormalities occurring within 100 days after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) were investigated in 311 patients. The metabolic abnormalities included hyper- and hypocalcemia, hypophosphatemia, hyper- and hypokalemia, hyper- and hyponatremia, hyper- and hypomagnesemia, hypercholesterolemia, hyper- and hypoglycemia, and hyperuricemia. Severe abnormalities, defined as grades III-V by NCI CTCAE v3.0, occurred in 269 patients (86.5%). Multivariate analysis revealed that patients with moderate-to-severe hepatic veno-occlusive disease had significantly higher risk for the occurrence of severe metabolic abnormalities. Grades III-IV acute graft-versus-host disease was the most frequently associated with individual metabolic abnormalities. Patients with at least one severe metabolic abnormality had significantly higher day 100 nonrelapse mortality (P=0.015) and lower 5-year overall survival (P=0.002) than those without severe abnormalities. The number of metabolic abnormalities also stratified the patients with different clinical outcomes. In conclusion, severe metabolic abnormalities occurring within 100 days after allogeneic HCT were common, and their occurrence was significantly associated with inferior clinical outcomes. These results indicate that metabolic parameters should be monitored in patients undergoing allogeneic HCT and that the occurrence of severe metabolic abnormalities should be considered an important toxicity parameter in prospective clinical trials regarding allogeneic HCT.