¹Clinical Hematology Division and Hematopoietic Transplant Program, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Correspondence: Dr J Sierra, Clinical Hematology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, St Antoni Ma Claret 167, Barcelona 08025, Spain. E-mail: jsierra@santpau.es

Received 6 July 2007; Revised 9 October 2007; Accepted 19 October 2007; Published online 21 January 2008.

Abstract

Transplantation from unrelated donors (URD) is increasingly being used as treatment for hematological malignancies, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This increase is the consequence of the availability of more than 11 million URD volunteers and the more efficient donor search process in the recent years. Median time to identify a suitable URD is now 2 months. More than 50% of Caucasian patients have an human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-allele donor match and a one-antigen or allele HLA-mismatched donor may also be acceptable. Complications of URD transplants are particularly frequent and severe, with long-term OS in the registries being 10–20% inferior to HLA-identical sibling transplantation. High resolution DNA techniques for donor and recipient HLA matching have contributed to the survival in experienced centres after unrelated donor SCT approaching that achieved with sibling donors. The introduction of reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) has extended URD transplants to elderly and/or debilitated patients with AML. With this approach, TRM decreases, although graft-versus-host disease-related morbidity and mortality remain a problem. Despite this complication, results after URD transplantation in this age group seem better than those achieved with chemotherapy and/or autologous transplantation. To confirm this possibility, prospective multicenter comparisons of URD transplants after RIC with other treatment options for elderly AML patients have recently been started.