title: Chronic graft-versus-host disease: clinical features and grading systems.
abstract: Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is the prime cause of transplantation-related mortality late after marrow grafting and contributes directly or indirectly to most nonmalignant complications. The main clinical symptoms and diagnostic problems of chronic GVHD are summarized here. A major issue in treating chronic GVHD is to assess disease severity. A critical review of published grading systems failed to demonstrate that any system is better than the others. Prospective validation of the Johns Hopkins grading scale is timely and warranted.
authors.affiliation: Service d'Hématologie/Greffe de Moelle, Hôpital Saint Louis, 1 Avenue Claude Vellefaux, 75475, Paris, France. gsocie@chu-stlouis.fr
authors.forename: Gérard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Socié
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index