José Luis Herrera-Garza

Reduced-intensity stem cell transplantation in children and adolescents: The Mexican experience

A group of 21 consecutive patients aged 4-20 (median 13) years was prospectively allografted using a reduced intensity preparative regimen. The group included both malignant (acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myelogenous leukemia, and chronic myelogenous leukemia) and nonmalignant (aplastic anemia, Diamond-Blackfan anemia, thalassemia major and adrenoleukodystrophy) conditions. Follow-up times ranged between 16 and 1038 days. Four of 21 patients (9.5%) developed acute graft-versus-host disease, and 2 of them died, whereas limited chronic graft-versus-host disease was observed in 2 of 15 cases. The 100-day mortality was 19%. Median overall survival was above 1038 days, whereas the 34-month survival was 55%. These data show that reduced intensity stem cell transplantation in children permits rapid engraftment from siblings with little toxicity.

Low-dose rituximab and alemtuzumab combination therapy for patients with steroid-refractory autoimmune cytopenias

Treatment of autoimmune cytopenias remains unsatisfactory for patients refractory to first-line management. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of low-dose rituximab plus alemtuzumab in patients with steroid-refractory autoimmune hemolytic anemia and immune thrombocytopenic purpura. Nineteen of 21 included patients were assessable for response (11 with immune thrombocytopenic purpura, 8 with autoimmune hemolytic anemia). Treatment with 10 mg of alemtuzumab subcutaneously on days 1 to 3, plus 100 mg of rituximab intravenously weekly in 4 doses, was administered. The overall response rate was 100%, with complete response in 58%. The median response duration was 46 weeks (range, 16-89 weeks). Median follow-up was 70 weeks (range, 37-104 weeks). Most toxicity was grade 1 fever related to the first dose. Six patients developed infections. The combination of rituximab and alemtuzumab is feasible and has an acceptable safety profile and remarkable clinical activity in this group of patients. This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00749112.

Evaluation of Volume and Total Nucleated Cell Count as Cord Blood Selection Parameters A Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve Modeling Approach

The objective of the study was to evaluate the current standard practice of using volume and total nucleated cell (TNC) count for the selection of cord blood (CB) units for cryopreservation and further transplantation. Data on 794 CB units whose CD34+ cell content was determined by flow cytometry were analyzed by using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve model to validate the performance of volume and TNC count for the selection of CB units with grafting purposes. The TNC count was the best parameter to identify CB units having 2 × 10(6) or more CD34+ cells, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.828 (95% confidence interval, 0.800-0.856; P < .01) and an efficiency of 75.4%. Combination of parameters (TNC/mononuclear cells [MNCs], efficiency 74.7%; TNC/volume, efficiency 68.9%; and volume/MNCs, efficiency 68.3%) did not lead to improvement in CB selection. All CB units having a TNC count of 8 × 10(8) or more had the required CD34+ cell dose for patients weighing 10 kg or less.

Cost Structure and Clinical Outcome of a Stem Cell Transplantation Program in a Developing Country: The Experience in Northeast Mexico

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in developing countries is cost-limited. Our primary goal was to determine the cost structure for the HSCT program model developed over the last decade at our public university hospital and to assess its clinical outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Adults and children receiving an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant from January 2010 to February 2011 at our hematology regional reference center were included. Laboratory tests, medical procedures, chemotherapy drugs, other drugs, and hospitalization costs were scrutinized to calculate the total cost for each patient and the median cost for the procedure. Data regarding clinical evolution were incorporated into the analysis. Physician fees are not charged at the institution and therefore were not included. RESULTS Fifty patients were evaluated over a 1-year period. The total estimated cost for an allogeneic HSCT was

High-dose peripheral blood stem cell transplant for multitransfused severe aplastic anaemia patients without antithymocyte globulin in the conditioning regimen

12,504. The two most expensive diseases to allograft were non-Hodgkin lymphoma (

Assessment of nutritional status in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Northern México: A 5‐year experience

11,760 ±

Obesity is associated with higher overall survival in patients undergoing an outpatient reduced-intensity conditioning hematopoietic stem cell transplant

2,236) for the malignant group and thalassemia (

Bone marrow transplantation in a child with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis using a less toxic conditioning regimen.

12,915 ±

Real-world outcomes of treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia during adolescence in a financially restricted environment: Results at a single center in Latin America: Jaime-Pérez et al.

5,170) for the nonmalignant group. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (

Feasibility of an outpatient HLA haploidentical stem cell transplantation program in children using a reduced-intensity conditioning regimen and CD3-CD19 depletion.

11,053 ± 2,817) and acute myeloblastic leukemia (