Temporal trends in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Argentina between 2009 and 2018: A collaborative study by GATMO-TC and INCUCAI

Temporal trends in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Argentina: regional differences that mirror the global reality

“…The list of approved indications for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) increased significantly in the past two decades as a result of the developments in its technology as well in supportive care. In the present issue, Basquiera and colleagues 1 report the temporal trends in HSCT in Argentina between 2009 and 2018. The authors show a steadily increasing HSCT rate, going from 153.3 HSCT/10,000,000 inhabitants in 2009 to 260.1 HSCT/10,000,000 inhabitants in 2018.…”

“…A critical achievement for the broader use of the haploidentical HSCT was the incorporation of posttransplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) as graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) prophylaxis which yields a similar overall survival (OS) compared to HLA-matched unrelated donor (MUD) HSCT with conventional prophylaxis 3 . Of note, Basquiera and colleagues 1 showed an important disparity among Argentinean regions regarding HSCT rates, which ranged from 99 (Formosa) to 680 (Tierra del Fuego) transplants for the year 2018. Overall, when the age-sex adjusted HSCT rates according to region are analyzed, it is evident that fewer transplants were performed in the northwest and northeast regions compared to the central and south ones.…”

“… 4 Among the factors accounting for the geographic differences, economic and sociodemographic factors play a major role and the following economic indicators have been associated with HSCT rates: human development index; health care expenditure per capita and gross national income per capita 6 . As stated by Basquiera and colleagues 1 their study represents a “situation diagnosis” of the HSCT in Argentina, but the diagnosis would be the same for other middle-income countries and, therefore serves as the base upon which processes ensuring timely access to a standard of care treatment of malignant and benign hematological disorders.…”