Predictive value of risk assessment scores in patients with hematologic malignancies undergoing reduced-intensity...

Reduced-intensity conditioning allogeneic stem cell transplantation (RIC allo-SCT) is associated with less toxicity and is used for older patients. We retrospectively studied the predictive value of two risk assessment scores, which were the hematopoietic cell transplantation-specific comorbidity index (HCT-CI) and the pre-transplantation assessment of mortality (PAM) score, for assessing the outcome of RIC allo-SCT. Seventy-eight patients underwent transplantation between 2005 and 2013 at a single institution. RIC was performed with fludarabine and melphalan with/without total body irradiation. The 3-year overall survival of patients with an HCT-CI >3 was significantly worse than that of patients with an HCT-CI 0-3 (31.6% vs. 59.6%, P = 0.020). Also, the 3-year overall survival of patients with a PAM score >24 was significantly worse than that of those with a PAM score ≤24 (29.2% vs. 61.4%, P = 0.005). The present findings suggest that changing the cut-off values of these risk assessment scores can improve prediction of outcomes in patients receiving RIC allo-SCT with this conditioning regimen and we need validation by large-scale study with other regimens.