The outcome of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Korean children with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.
Chemoimmunotherapy-based treatments have improved the survival of patients with HLH, but outcomes of the patients are still unsatisfactory. We report here the outcome of Korean children with HLH who underwent HSCT, which was analyzed from the data of a nation-wide HLH registry. Retrospective nation-wide data recruitment for the pediatric HLH patients diagnosed between 1996 and 2008 was carried out by the Histiocytosis Working Party of the Korean Society of Hematology. Nineteen patients who received HSCT among the total of 148 enrolled children with HLH were analyzed for the transplant-related variables and events. The probability of five-yr survival after HSCT was 73.3% with a median follow-up of 57. Two months compared to 54.3% for the patients who were treated with chemoimmunotherapy only (p = 0.05). The reasons for HSCT were active disease after eight wk of initial treatment (n = 9), relapsed disease (n = 5), and FHL (n = 5). Fourteen patients are currently alive without disease after HSCT, four patients died of treatment-related events (infection in two and graft failure in two) at early post-transplant period, and one patient died of relapse at one yr post transplantation. The survival of patients who were transplanted because of active disease after eight wk of initial treatment was worse compared to those patients who had inactive state at that time (60.6% vs. 100%, respectively, p = 0.06). Of the four patients who received transplants using cord blood, three died of graft failure (n = 2) and relapse (n = 1). The five-yr probability of survival after HSCT according to the donor type was 85.7% for the MRDs (n = 6), 87.5% for the MUDs (n = 8), and 40% for the MMUDs (n = 5) (p = 0.03). Other variables such as age, CNS involvement at the time of diagnosis, the etiology of HLH (familial or secondary), and the conditioning regimens had no influence on the five-yr OS of the HLH patients who underwent HSCT. HSCT improved the survival of the patients who had familial, relapsed, or severe and persistent SHLH in the Korean nation-wide HLH registry. Although numbers were small, these results are similar to other reports in the literature. The disease state after initial treatment, the stem cell source of the transplant, and the donor type were the important prognostic factors that affected the OS of the HLH patients who underwent HSCT.
Yoon
Hoi Soo
HS
Department of Pediatrics, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Im
Ho Joon
HJ
Moon
Hyung Nam
HN
Lee
Jae Hee
JH
Kim
Hee-Jin
HJ
Yoo
Keon Hee
KH
Sung
Ki Woong
KW
Koo
Hong Hoe
HH
Kang
Hyung Jin
HJ
Shin
Hee Young
HY
Ahn
Hyo Seop
HS
Cho
Bin
B
Kim
Hack Ki
HK
Lyu
Chuhl Joo
CJ
Lee
Mee Jeong
MJ
Kook
Hoon
H
Hwang
Tai Ju
TJ
Seo
Jong Jin
JJ
D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D051359:Lymphohistiocytosis, Hemophagocytic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D012042:Registries; D056910:Republic of Korea; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome