Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y., said it had achieved a one-year overall survival rate of 92.6% for patients receiving a first-time allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant in 2024, according to a study published in Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.
The result surpasses the national benchmark of 80% one-year survival documented by the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research for the 2017–22 period, the center said in a news release shared with Becker’s.
Brian Betts, MD, vice chair of strategic initiatives for Roswell Park’s Transplant & Cellular Therapy Program and senior author of the study, led the initiative alongside Shernan Holtan, MD, chief of blood and marrow transplant, and Megan Herr, PhD, associate member of the department of medicine.
The program’s improvements center on standardized care protocols, reformed donor selection criteria prioritizing younger donor age and blood type compatibility, and universal use of post-transplant cyclophosphamide to reduce graft-versus-host disease, the center said. Roswell Park also expanded access to patients historically excluded from alloHCT, including those over age 60 and patients without a related donor, while shifting to an early-discharge outpatient care model.
“Less toxic regimens, modern donor selection and the right use of cyclophosphamide gave our patients something extraordinary — a 90%-plus chance of being alive and well a year out,” Dr. Holtan said.
The improvements were developed across the full care team, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and dietitians. The study authors suggest the operating model could serve as a blueprint for other transplant centers.
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