Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for Relapsed and Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma: Real World Experience of a Single Center

Abstract

Introduction: Refractory and relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma (R/R HL) is associated with poor prognosis, and allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) remains the only potentially curative approach.Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of allotransplantation in R/R HL setting.Material: Overall, 24 patients (17 men and 7 women) at a median age of 27 years (range 18–44) underwent allo-SCT between 2002 and 2020.Results: Nineteen patients received prior autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT1) whereas eight patients received second ASCT (ASCT2) after failure of ASCT1. Six patients received only brentuximab vedotin (BV; n = 4) or BV followed by checkpoint inhibitors (CPI; n = 2) before entering allo-SCT. Median time from ASCT1 to allo-SCT was 17.1 months. Fifteen patients received grafts from unrelated donors. Peripheral blood was a source of stem cells for 16 patients. Reduced-intensity conditioning was used for all patients. Disease status at transplant entry was as follows: complete remission (CR; n = 4), partial response (PR; n = 10), and stable disease (SD; n = 10). Acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) developed in 13 (54%) and 4 (16%) patients, respectively. Median follow-up for the entire cohort was 13.3 months. At the last follow-up, 17 (71%) patients died. The main causes of death were disease progression (n = 10), infectious complications (n = 6), and steroid-resistant GVHD (n = 1). Non-relapse mortality at 12 months was 25%. At the last follow-up, seven patients were alive; six patients were in CR, and one had PR. The 2-year overall survival (OS) was 40%.Conclusion: Chemosensitive disease at transplant was associated with better outcome. Allo-SCT allows for long-term survival in refractory and relapsed HL.

Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation in Treatment of Refractory/Relapsed Lymphomas

“…hematologic malignancies, but it showed a high rate of NRM with a low probability of 3-year OS. A retrospective EBMT study on 168 HL patients compared the outcomes of RIC vs. MAC and it was found that the latter was associated with significantly higher NRM which translated into lower OS [5,8]. This is partially related to the idea of overcoming chemoresistance by increasing the total systemic dose to the highest possible amount while avoiding significant damage to organs other than the marrow.…”