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Return to school practices after hematopoietic cell transplantation: a survey of transplant centers in the United States

Bone Marrow Transplantation (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

To understand transplant center recommendations on return-to-school timing and related support for hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) survivors, we conducted a two-phase, cross-sectional, web-based survey: In Phase I, medical directors of pediatric HCT centers from the National Marrow Donor Program/ Be The Match Registry were asked regarding the availability of a return to school standardized operating procedure (SOP). In Phase II, HCT physician members of the Pediatric Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Consortium were approached to study inter-physician practice variability regarding return to school post-HCT, factors affecting their decision-making, and support provided by HCT centers for return to school. Out of 46 respondents in Phase I (55% response rate), 28 (61%) reported having a SOP. Wide variations in recommendations were noted in 12 received SOPs. In Phase II, 122 physicians (60 centers) responded (30.6% response rate). The majority (60%) recommended autologous HCT recipients return to school within 6 months post-HCT but 65% recommended allogeneic HCT recipients return to school after 6 months or once off immunosuppression. Our findings indicate a lack of consensus within and across HCT centers regarding recommended return to school timing and underscore need for a guideline to standardize this process to ensure patient safety and re-integration into school.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3: Variations in recommended return to school timing among HCT physicians at the same HCT centers according to the availability of a standardized operating procedure.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the physicians who participated in this study. We additionally wish to sincerely thank Dr. Linda Burns for her valuable support throughout this study. Without her help, the current analysis would not have been possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    Neel S. Bhatt, K. Scott Baker & Paul A. Carpenter

  2. Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, National Marrow Donor Program/Be The Match, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Christa L. Meyer, Lih-Wen Mau, Jeffery J. Auletta & Steven Devine

  3. Tamkang University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Lih-Wen Mau

  4. Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/BMT, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Larisa Broglie & Rachel Phelan

  5. Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Larisa Broglie & Rachel Phelan

  6. Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MN, USA

    Sung Won Choi

  7. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Christopher E. Dandoy

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  1. Neel S. Bhatt
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Contributions

Conceptualization: NSB, CLM, LWM, RP. Methodology: all authors. Data Curation: NSB, CLM, LWM, RP. Data analysis & Interpretation: all authors. Writing- Original Draft: NSB, CLM, LWM, RP. Writing- Review & Editing: all authors. All authors approved the final version and its submission for publication.

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Correspondence to Neel S. Bhatt.

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Bhatt, N.S., Meyer, C.L., Mau, LW. et al. Return to school practices after hematopoietic cell transplantation: a survey of transplant centers in the United States. Bone Marrow Transplant (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-024-02239-w

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