HEMATOPOIETIC STEM-CELL TRANSPLANTATION IN AUSTRALIA, 1992-95 - A REPORT FROM THE AUSTRALIAN BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT REGISTRY

Background Bone marrow and blood stem cell transplantation is increasi ngly utilised in Australia. The Australian Bone Marrow Transplant Reci pient Registry was founded in 1991 to record this activity. Aim: To de scribe allogeneic and autologous bone marrow and blood stem cell trans plantation in Australia during 1992-95. Methods: Each bone marrow tran splant programme in each State of Australia has been invited to contri bute information to the Registry and all do. A single information shee t is compiled by the data manager in each programme when a marrow tran splant is performed and mailed to the Registry office. An annual follo w-up sheet is then mailed from the Registry to the contributing centre at the anniversary of each individual transplant. Results: Australia- wide, haemopoietic cell transplants have increased in number from 478 in 1992 to 681 in 1995. The number of hospitals contributing registrat ions to the Australian Bone Marrow Transplant Registry has increased f rom 20 in 1992 to 25 in 1995. The main reason for the increased number of transplants is an increase in the number of autologous blood stem cell transplants including an increase in the number of staged autolog ous blood stem cell transplants. The most common indication for a sing le autologous transplant in 1995 was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and for a staged autologous transplant tvas breast cancer. The commonest indicat ion for an allogeneic family member transplant in 1995 was acute myelo id leukaemia and for an allogeneic unrelated donor transplant, acute l ymphoblastic leukaemia. The three year actuarial overall survival for patients receiving a haemopoietic stem cell transplant between, 1992 a nd 1994 was 54% with a median follow-up time of 2,04 years. Recurrence of the underlying malignant disease was the main cause of death durin g both the first and second year post transplant after both. allogenei c (13.3% and 8.3%) and autologous (22.1% and 11.8%) transplantation. T reatment-related mortality was 13.1% after allogeneic transplantation and 3.3% after autologous transplantation.