title: Extracorporeal photopheresis in patients with refractory bronchiolitis obliterans developing after allo-SCT.
abstract: Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) has been shown to be a promising treatment for chronic graft-versus-host disease; however, only a few case reports are available that examine the effectiveness of ECP for bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) after allo-SCT. Because of the poor response to traditional therapies, ECP has been explored as a possible therapeutic option for severe BO after allo-SCT. Nine patients received ECP between July 2008 and August 2009 after a median follow-up of 23 months (range 9-93 months) post transplant. The primary indication for ECP was the development of BO in patients who had failed prior multidrug regimens. The median number of drugs used for BO management before ECP was 5 (range 2-7); this included immunosuppressive therapy. Six of nine (67%) patients responded to ECP after a median of 25 days (range 20-958 days). No ECP-related complications occurred. ECP seemed to stabilize rapidly declining pulmonary function tests in about two-thirds of patients with severe and heavily pretreated BO that developed after allo-SCT. This finding supports the need for a larger prospective study to confirm the impact of ECP on BO, and to consider earlier intervention with ECP to improve the outcome of BO after allo-SCT.
authors.affiliation: Long-Term Follow-up Transplant Clinic, Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation Section, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN-37232-5505, USA.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Lucid
authors.forename: B N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Savani
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Engelhardt
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Clifton
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Greenhut
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Vaughan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kassim
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schuening
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jagasia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001989:Bronchiolitis Obliterans / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017893:Photopheresis / Q000379:methods*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D055815:Young Adult