title: Treatment of refractory autoimmune diseases with autologous stem cell transplantation: focus on juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
abstract: Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) can be performed in a variety of refractory autoimmune diseases. A retrospective multicenter analysis is presented to evaluate safety and efficacy of ASCT for refractory juvenile idiopathic arthritis. In all, 18 of the 34 patients (53%) with a follow-up of 12 to 60 months achieved a drug-free complete remission. There were three cases (9%) of transplant-related mortality and two cases of disease-related mortality (6%). Infectious complications were seen frequently. We propose adjustments in future protocols to reduce this mortality in this high-risk patient group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Section Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. n.wulffraat@wkz.azu.nl
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Wulffraat
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vastert
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tyndall
mesh_terms: D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012074:Remission Induction; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000592:standards; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous