title: Is peripheral blood or bone marrow a better source of stem cells for transplantation in cases of HLA-matched unrelated donors? A meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Peripheral-blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) are both widely used in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). However, it has been controversial whether the use of PB or BM leads to a more favorable outcome of HSCT that involves unrelated HLA-matched donors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched PubMed and Medline for relevant articles. Risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for statistical analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve studies and 5589 patients were included in the assessment. The rate of engraftment (both neutrophil and platelet) was higher in the PBSCT group (RR=1.02, 95% CI=1.01-1.03, P=0.009; RR=1.18, 95% CI=1.00-1.41, P=0.05, RR=1.025, 95% CI=1.010-1.039, P=0.000; RR=1.031, 95% CI=1.012-1.051, P=0.002). In subgroup analyses, chronic GVHD and transplantation-related mortality were probably influenced by basic disease, conditioning. No significant statistical differences were found on the rate of relapse, 2-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) after peripheral blood stem cell neither bone marrow transplantation (PBSCT and BMT).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PBSC as a graft source shown more complete engraftment of neutrophil and platelet, but the decision to use either peripheral blood or bone marrow was made depended on the diagnosis, the conditioning regimen and the transplantation protocols.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Gaotantyan Street, Chongqing 400037, China.
authors.forename: Sha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Gaotantyan Street, Chongqing 400037, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Gaotantyan Street, Chongqing 400037, China. Electronic address: zhangxxi@sina.com.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Gaotantyan Street, Chongqing 400037, China.
authors.forename: Ya-qi
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Gaotantyan Street, Chongqing 400037, China.
authors.forename: Tian-xia
authors.initials: TX
authors.lastname: Deng
mesh_terms: D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D036102:Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning; D061349:Unrelated Donors
keywords: Bone marrow; Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; Peripheral blood