We report the nationwide experience with solid organ transplant (SOT) and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 in Spain until 13 July 2020. We compiled information for 778 (423 kidney, 113 HSCT, 110 liver, 69 heart, 54 lung, 8 pancreas, 1 multivisceral) recipients.Median age at diagnosis was 61 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 52-70), and 66% were male. The incidence of COVID-19 in SOT recipients was two-fold higher compared to the Spanish general population. The median interval from transplantation was 59 months (IQR: 18-131). Infection was hospital-acquired in 13% of cases. No donorderived COVID-19 was suspected. Most patients (89%) were admitted to the hospital.Therapies included hydroxychloroquine (84%), azithromycin (53%), protease inhibitors (37%), and interferon-β (5%), whereas immunomodulation was based on corticosteroids (41%) and tocilizumab (21%). Adjustment of immunosuppression was performed in 85% of patients. At the time of analysis, complete follow-up was available from 652 patients. Acute respiratory distress syndrome occurred in 35% of patients. Ultimately, 174 (27%) patients died. In univariate analysis, risk factors for death were lung transplantation (odds ratio [OR]:

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Antifungal stewardship (AFS) programmes are needed in tertiary-care hospitals. Our aim is to describe a bedside non-restrictive AFS programme, and to evaluate its economic impact. During the first year of the AFS a bundle of non-interventional measures were implemented. During the second year an infectious diseases specialist visited 453 patients receiving candins, liposomal amphotericin B, voriconazole or posaconazole. Monthly costs were studied with an interrupted time series (ITS) analysis. The main prescribing departments were haematology (35%), medical departments (23%), and intensive care units (20%). Reasons to start antifungal therapy were: targeted therapy (36%), prophylaxis (32%), empirical therapy (20%) and pre-emptive therapy (12%). At the initial visit, diagnostic advice was provided in 40% of cases. The most common therapeutic recommendations were to de-escalate the antifungal drug (17%) or to suspend it (7%). Annual total antifungal expenditure was reduced from US$3.8 million to US$2.9 million over the first 2 years, generating net savings of US$407,663 and US$824,458 per year after considering the cost of additional staff required. The ITS analyses showed a significant economic impact after the first 12 months of the intervention (p 0.042 at month 13), which was enhanced in the following 24 months (p 0.006 at month 35). The number of defined daily doses decreased from 66.4 to 54.8 per 1000 patient-days. Incidence of candidaemia was reduced from 1.49 to 1.14 (p 0.08) and related mortality was reduced from 28% to 16% (p 0.1). A collaborative and non-compulsory AFS program based on bedside intervention is an efficacious and cost-effective approach that optimizes the use of AF drugs.

Patients and MethodsWe retrospectively evaluated 709 adult patients with Hodgkin lymphoma who were registered in the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation database who received HAPLO (n = 98), SIB (n = 338), or MUD (n = 273) transplantation. ResultsMedian follow-up of survivors was 29 months. No differences were observed between groups in the incidence of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). HAPLO was associated with a lower risk of chronic GVHD (26%) compared with MUD (41%; P = .04). Cumulative incidence of nonrelapse mortality at 1 year was 17%, 13%, and 21% in HAPLO, SIB, and MUD, respectively, and corresponding 2-year cumulative incidence of relapse or progression was 39%, 49%, and 32%, respectively. On multivariable analysis, relative to SIB, nonrelapse mortality was similar in HAPLO (P = .26) and higher in MUD (P = .003), and risk of relapse was lower in both HAPLO (P = .047) and MUD (P , .001). Two-year overall survival and progression-free survival were 67% and 43% for HAPLO, 71% and 38% for SIB, and 62% and 45% for MUD, respectively. There were no significant differences in overall survival or progression-free survival between HAPLO and SIB or MUD. The rate of the composite end point of extensive chronic GVHD and relapse-free survival was significantly better for HAPLO (40%) compared with SIB (28%; P = .049) and similar to MUD (38%; P = .59). ConclusionPost-transplantation cyclophosphamide-based HAPLO transplantation results in similar survival outcomes compared with SIB and MUD, which confirms its suitability when no conventional donor is available. Our results also suggest that HAPLO results in a lower risk of chronic GVHD than MUD transplantation.

The number of HLA-haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplants continues to increase worldwide due to recent improvements in outcomes, allowing more patients with hematological malignancies and non-malignant disorders to benefit from this procedure and have a chance to cure their disease. Despite these encouraging results, questions remain as multiple donors are usually available for transplantation, and choosing the best HLA-haploidentical donor for transplantation remains a challenge. Several approaches to haploidentical transplantation have been developed over time and, based on the graft received, can be grouped as follows: T-cell depleted haploidentical transplants, either complete or partial, or with T-cell replete grafts, performed with post-transplant cyclophosphamide-based graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis, or G-CSF-primed bone marrow graft and enhanced GVHD prophylaxis. Carefully selecting the donor can help optimize transplant outcomes for recipients of haploidentical donor transplants. Variables usually considered in the donor selection include presence of donor-specific antibodies in the recipient, donor age, donor/recipient gender and ABO combinations, and immunogenic variables, such as natural killer cell alloreactivity or KIR haplotype.Here we provide a comprehensive review of available evidence for selecting haploidentical donors for transplantation, and summarize the recommendations from the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) on donor selection for different transplant platforms.

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BackgroundAllogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is an effective treatment for patients with poor risk lymphoma, at least in part because of the graft-versus-lymphoma effect. Over the past decade, reduced intensity conditioning regimens have been shown to offer results similar to those of conventional high-dose conditioning regimens but with lower toxicity early after transplantation, especially in patients with chemosensitive disease at transplant. Design and MethodsThe aim of this study was to analyze the long-term outcome of patients with follicular lymphoma who received an HLA identical sibling allogeneic stem cell transplant with a reduced intensity conditioning regimen within prospective trials. The prospective multicenter studies considered included 37 patients with follicular lymphoma who underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation between 1998 and 2007 with a fludarabine plus melphalan-based reduced intensity conditioning regimen. ResultsThe median age of the patients was 50 years (range, 34-62 years) and the median follow-up was 52 months (range, 0.6 to 113 months). Most patients (77%) had stage III-IV at diagnosis, and patients had received a median of three lines of therapy before the reduced intensity conditioning allogeneic stem cell transplantation. At the time of transplantation, 14 patients were in complete remission, 16 in partial remission and 7 had refractory or progressive disease after salvage chemotherapy. The 4-year overall survival rates for patients in complete remission, partial remission, or with refractory or progressive disease were 71%, 48% and 29%, respectively (P=0.09), whereas the 4-year cumulative incidences of non-relapse mortality were 26% (95% CI, 11-61), 33% (95% CI, 16-68) and 71% (95% CI, 44-100), respectively. The incidence of relapse for the whole group was only 8% (95% CI, 2-23). ConclusionsWe conclude that this strategy of reduced intensity conditioning allogeneic stem cell transplantation may be associated with significant non-relapse mortality in heavily pre-treated patients with follicular lymphoma, but a remarkably low relapse rate. Long-term survival is likely in patients without progressive or refractory disease at the time of transplantation.Key words: follicular lymphoma, reduced intensity conditioning, HLA identical sibling donor, allogeneic stem cell transplantation, graft-versus-host disease.Citation: Piñana JL, Martino R, Gayoso J, Sureda A, de la Serna J, Díez-Martín JL, Vazquez L, Arranz R, Tomás JF, Sampol A, Solano C, Delgado J, Sierra J, and Caballero D for the GELTAMO Group. Reduced intensity conditioning HLA identical sibling donor allogeneic stem cell transplantation for patients with follicular lymphoma: long-term follow-up from two prospective multicenter trials. Haematologica 2010;95:1176-1182. doi:10.3324/haematol.2009. ©2010 Ferrata Storti Foundation. This is an open-access paper.Reduced intensity conditioning HLA identical sibling donor allogeneic stem cell transplantation for patients with follicular lymphoma: long-term foll...

Relapse remains the main cause of treatment failure in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) after allogeneic hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT). The Wilms' tumor 1 gene (WT1) is reportedly overexpressed in >90% of patients with AML and thus can be useful for minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of WT1 expression as a relapse predictor marker in patients with AML after SCT and compare it with flow cytometry (FC) and chimerism studies. WT1 expression was assessed retrospectively using quantitative RT-PCR in bone marrow and peripheral blood from 21 patients. Patients were classified according to WT1 dynamics posttransplantation. Eleven of the 21 patients had low and stable WT1 levels. All of these 11 patients showed complete chimerism and negative MRD by FC and remained in complete remission with a median follow-up of 27 months (range, 18-98 months). In contrast, 10 of 21 patients showed WT1 overexpression after SCT, and 9 of these 10 patients relapsed. The incidence of relapse differed significantly between the 2 groups of patients according to WT1 expression post-SCT (P = .00003). Relapse in the 9 patients occurred at a median of 314 days (range, 50-560 days). Interestingly, in these patients, relapse was first predicted by WT1 (with negative FC and complete chimerism) in 7 patients. WT1 overexpression was correlated with disease burden in patients with AML before and after allogeneic SCT. In patients who relapsed, both medullary and extramedullary relapse were better anticipated by WT1 overexpression compared with FC and chimerism.