Allogeneic stem cell transplantation for patients with lymphoma 2011-21

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) has the potential to cure patients with lymphoma when conventional treatment fails, but it is associated with a risk of serious complications. We present treatment outcomes atter two years for 120 patients who underwent ASCT in the period 1 January 2011-30 September 2021.

The study consists of patients who underwent their first transplant at Oslo University Hospital. Several changes were made to the transplantation protocols during this period, including the introduction of prophylaxis for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) with antithymocyte globulin in October 2016. Comparisons were made of survival and complications for patients transplanted in the period 1 January 2011-30 September 2016 (group 1: 65 patients) and 1 October 2016-30 September 2021 (group 2: 55 patients).

After two years, 42/65 (65 %) of patients in group 1 and 39/55 (71 %) of patients in group 2 were alive. Transplant-related mortality was 18/65 (28 %) in group 1 and 8/55 (15 %) in group 2. Five patients in group 1 and seven patients in group 2 died following a relapse. One patient in group 2 died from an unknown cause. A total of 13/65 (20 %) in group 1 and 4/55 (7 %) in group 2 developed severe acute GVHD. Among patients who survived at least 100 days, 24/61 (39 %) in group 1 and 3/51 (6 %) in group 2 developed severe chronic GVHD.

Complications after ASCT for lymphoma have been significantly reduced since 2016.