Age alone shouldn’t prevent patients with leukemia and related blood diseases from receiving stem cell transplants, according to University of Minnesota research released Monday.
Reviewing outcomes from more than 1,000 transplant patients, researchers found those in their 60s fared just as well as those in their 40s and 50s. The three-year survival rate for the transplant patients was 35 percent to 45 percent — which far exceeds the dismal survival rate without treatment.
Transplants typically are given after chemotherapy to help patients overcome acute myeloid leukemia. But doctors have hesitated to transplant donated stem cells into patients 60 and older because of the potential for rejection and other side effects.
The latest findings should challenge that thinking, said the university’s Dr. Daniel Weisdorf, whose team conducted the study with colleagues in Houston. “People’s chronological birthdays should not be a barrier to considering treatment.”
Age also did not vary outcomes for transplant patients suffering from myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disorder that can lead to cancer, Weisdorf said. That result might encourage Medicare to cover transplants for this disease. The federal health plan for the elderly already covers the transplants for leukemia.
— Jeremy Olson