Diagnosis and staging of chronic graft-versus-host disease in the clinical practice

Based on expert opinion and retrospective data the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Development Project proposed criteria for diagnosis and staging of both overall severity as well as organ severity of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) for use in clinical trials. In 2008, representatives of German and Austrian allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) centers established a study group on cGVHD during the annual meeting of the German Working Group on Bone Marrow and Blood Stem Cell Transplantation (DAG-KBT) to intensify a dialog among HSCT physicians, pathologists, and medical consultants focusing on the usefulness of the NIH consensus criteria for patient care in clinical practice and to promote collaborations between HSCT centers as well as different medical specialities involved in HSCT. We first conducted a survey of current practices of diagnosis, staging, and overall grading of cGVHD in daily clinical routine by sending an electronic questionnaire to the heads of the HSCT centers. During 3 meetings in 2009, more representatives of allogeneic HSCT centers were included into the discussion process, resulting in 81% participation representing 88% of all allogeneic HSCT activities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. During the third consensus meeting held in Regensburg, Germany, from November 6 to November 7, 2009, important agreements were achieved among participant having a strong impact on care of patients with cGVHD. Areas of disagreement such as distinction between classical NIH cGVHD and overlap syndrome or assignment of liver GVHD after day 100 to acute or chronic category will be further assessed in prospective observational studies among participants in the near future.