1. ¹Hematology, Department of Medicine, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
2. ²Institute for Operations Research and Computational Finance, University of St Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland
3. ³JACIE office, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain
4. ⁴Department of Hematology, University Hospital, Leipzig, Germany

Correspondence: Dr A Gratwohl, Hematology, Department of Medicine, University Hospital Basel, Petersgraben 4, Basel CH-4031, Switzerland. E-mail: hematology@uhbs.ch

Received 28 September 2006; Revised 30 October 2006; Accepted 10 November 2006.

Abstract

This EBMT activity report documents the haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) activity in Europe in 2005. It provides numbers of HSCT by indication, donor type and stem cell source, lists the new practice of planned double transplants with allogeneic after autologous HSCT and concentrates on the increasing role of unrelated transplants over the last years. In 2005, there were 24 168 first HSCT, 8890 allogeneic (37%), 15 278 autologous (63%) and 3773 additional re- or multiple transplants reported from 597 centres in 43 participating countries. Main indications were leukaemias (7404 (31%; 82% allogeneic)); lymphomas (13 825 (57%; 89% autologous)); solid tumours (1655 (7%; 92% autologous)) and non-malignant disorders (1131 (5%; 93% allogeneic)). A total of 671 planned allogeneic after autologous HSCT were reported; the majority for myeloma (52%), lymphoma (28%) and acute myeloid leukaemia (11%). Compared to 2004, there was a 20% increase in allogeneic HSCT; numbers of autologous HSCT remained constant. The most noticeable increase was in unrelated HSCT, which comprise 41% of all allogeneic HSCT. Unrelated HSCT were preferentially performed for leukaemias and in countries with high income according to World Bank criteria. These data illustrate the current experience in Europe and form the basis for patient counselling and decisions making at health care institutions.