The Outcome of Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation: A Single Center Early Experience

The aim of this article is to report the clinical outcome of adult autologous stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) in a single center in Saudi Arabia. All adult patients who underwent AHSCT and completed 36 months of follow up were included. The data were analyzed retrospectively, describing patients demographic and disease characteristics, at diagnosis and, disease status before transplantation. We also describe their treatment outcomes including response post-transplant, 3-year overall survival (OS) and 3-year disease free survival (DFS). Thirty-eight patients received auto-SCT between February 2010 and October 2013 and met the inclusion criteria, including 25 males and 13 females. Hodgkins Lymphoma (HL) is the commonest indication for autologous SCT in our study followed by Multiple myeloma (MM). The mean age at transplantation was 37 years. The 3-year OS was 79 % and the DFS was 76 %. Eight (21 %) patients died after transplantation and 30 (79 %) are still alive. The none-relapse mortality was 3 % and 18 % at one and three years, respectively. The median time for neutrophils and platelets engraftment was 12 days and 10 days respectively. The 3-year OS for the HL patients (n=23) was 87 %, and the DFS was 87 %. The 3-year OS for the MM patients (n=7) was 86 % and the DFS was 57 %. The results reported here indicate that the clinical outcomes are comparable to international results.