On average, as those who undergo the more invasive procedure of having a bone marrow transplant, leukemia patients who have blood stem cell transplants survive just as long, scientists say. Suggesting that for some the benefit of the complex treatment is greater in the long run, patients with acute forms the blood cancer appear to do better if they have bone marrow as opposed to blood stem cell transplants.
A procedure in which the patient must have a general anesthetic and surgery, bone marrow transplants involve the collection of stem cells from the bone marrow. But, avoiding some of the complications of bone marrow collection, stem cells are collected from blood in peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT).
Berlin, German, researchers from the Charite Medicine University looked at survival rates in 329 patients. These patients were from 42 transplant centers from 13 European countries and Australia and Israel, and they all received PBSCT or a bone marrow transplant. They said in the study published in the Lancet Oncology medical journal, “they found notable differences in survival in patients with acute leukemia’s.”