Sw. Crawford et al., ACUTE GRAFT-VERSUS-HOST DISEASE AND THE RISKS FOR IDIOPATHIC PNEUMONIA AFTER MARROW TRANSPLANTATION FOR SEVERE APLASTIC-ANEMIA, Bone marrow transplantation, 12(3), 1993, pp. 225-231
The risks for the development of idiopathic pneumonia after allogeneic
BMT were assessed in a case-series review at a single marrow transpla
ntation center. All allogeneic marrow recipients (n = 299) (age range
1-60 years) with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) transplanted from family
member donors after conditioning with CY were evaluated. Post-graftin
g immunosuppression consisted of MTX alone in 205 patients (69%), CY a
lone in 16 (5%) and a combination of the two in 78 (26%). The incidenc
e estimate for any pneumonia within the first 200 days after transplan
t was 18% (95% confidence interval = 14-24%). Of 48 cases of pneumonia
, CMV infection was documented in 44%, 21% were idiopathic and the rem
ainder were either due to other infections or were not evaluated. The
effect of acute GVHD on the incidence of pneumonia was examined using
multivariate Cox proportional hazards models which included covariates
for potential confounding factors. Consistent with previous reports,
acute GVHD was associated with an increased incidence of any pneumonia
(relative risk (RR) = 3.5, 95% Cl = 1.9-6.9; p < 0.001). Specifically
, acute GVHD also was associated with the largest risk of idiopathic p
neumonia (RR = 5.0, 95% Ct = 1.1-22; p = 0.04). In conclusion, recogni
tion of acute GVHD as a risk factor for idiopathic pneumonia suggests
that mechanisms in addition to chemoradiation damage are responsible f
or non-infectious lung injury after BMT.