AML World Awareness Day | Outcomes for patients with AML following transplantation

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) World Awareness Day, on 21 April 2019, marks an important event in the AML calendar allowing the community to unite, share knowledge, and raise awareness of the advances in the prevention, management, and treatment of AML.

The role of transplantation in the therapeutic landscape of AML has been widely discussed, with autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) providing an important treatment modality for the management of patients with AML.¹ The use of allogeneic SCT for the treatment of AML has been shown to be a curative treatment approach, although variations in the application of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) can result in differences amongst the patient population.²

At the 45^th European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) Annual Meeting, Professor Uwe Platzbecker, discussed the factors to consider when integrating transplantation into the treatment pathway for patients with AML:

Moreover, at EBMT 2019 Hiromi Hayashi presented the results from a study conducted by Eurocord, which assessed the outcomes of adolescents and young adults with AML who received myeloablative conditioning regimens, followed by umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT). The study authors concluded that in this patient population UCBT is a viable treatment option.

At the 60^th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition, Mohamed L. Sorror presented data from the first prospective multi-center longitudinal study, dating from first presentation of adult patients with AML who were treated at one of 13 different referral centers that provide both AML treatment and HSCT.

In addition to this, the outcomes for patients with AML who have received HLA-matched or haploidentical allogeneic HSCT has been retrospectively analysed. From this analysis, inferior outcomes were seen in the haplo-HSCT group compared to the HLA-matched group, with further analysis still required.

At EBMT 2019, Arnon Nagler discussed the current and future perspectives for haploidentical HSCT in patients with AML:

In conclusion, these developments in the understanding and use of transplantation for the treatment of patients with AML have demonstrated the value of knowledge sharing in order to provide patients with the most effective therapeutic protocol. The AML Global Portal and Know AML are two initiatives involved in sharing advances in AML amongst the community. To find out how you can participate in AML World Awareness Day, visit www.know-aml.com for further information.