Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation from Unrelated Donors within the Seventh Decade of Life.

We analyzed the outcome of 28 patients who were treated within prospective treatment protocols to investigate the feasibility of unrelated stem cell transplantation for patients with haematological malignancies within the seventh decade of life. Twenty-eight patients with a median age of 62 years (range 60–70) were enrolled. Twenty-six received a dose-reduced conditioning regimen while two patients were transplanted after standard conditioning regimen, and eight of the patients had received at least one prior high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Diagnoses were leukaemia (AML: n=10; ALL: n=1; CML: n=2), MDS (n=5), myelofibrosis (n=3), multiple myeloma (n=6) or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (n=1). No primary graft-failure was observed, and the median number of days to leucocyte and platelet engraftment was 18 days and 23 days, respectively. Acute GvHD grade II–IV was seen in 35% of the patients, chronic GvHD was seen in 56% of the patients. The one-year cumulative incidence of treatment-related mortality was 25%. The four-year estimated overall- and disease-free survival was 49% and 40%, respectively. Unrelated stem cell transplantation in patients within the seventh decade of life is a feasible treatment option and may induce long-term disease-free survival.