Dr. Scott on Conditioning Regimens for Stem Cell Transplants

Bart Scott, MD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, explains the importance of the intensity of a conditioning regimen for stem cell transplants. Typically, high-intensity therapy is given before transplantation and also helps ensure the allograft effect, which encourages the attacking of foreign cancer cells.

There has been an effort to develop lower intensity conditioning, so that patients who are older or who have more comorbidities can still benefit from this treatment, Scott notes. This less toxic treatment could result in less infusion-related mortality; however, there were concerns about the graph-versus-leukemia effect being reduced.

In a talk at the BMT Tandem Meetings, Scott explained that a lower conditioning intensity does increase the relapse rates of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). It is therefore important to find an intense regimen with fewer adverse events for a frail population, which is the focus of ongoing research.

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