Better medicines, mechanism urged for stem cell transplant patients

Up to 70 percent of patients with stem cell transplant can suffer from complications, which can impact their major organs, causing transplant failure and even death in serious cases, according to China's first report on domestic stem cell transplant development and planning.

One complication, chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), is the leading cause of late morbidity and mortality after stem cell transplant. Symptoms and manifestations of chronic GVHD are quite different, while the options for therapy are limited.

Stem cell transplant is the major treatment and hope for patients with severe blood and immunity diseases. So prevention and control of complications is extremely important to ensure treatment effect and for patients' survival, experts said.

Patients can have different symptoms with chronic GVHD. Most suffer frequent problems of fatigue, pain, a limitation on mobility, dry skin, dry eyes and respiratory issues, severely impacting their long-term quality of life and functional status.

"It is a disease involving multiple organs and systems in the body. For young people, the chronic rejection on the skin can influence their social life and work opportunity, while those with respiratory problems can't have normal life and work," said Dr Song Xianmin from Shanghai General Hospital.

"Chronic GVHD has become an important issue for patients' survival after transplant."

"Innovative medicines and therapies are needed to prolong the survival of patients with stem cell transplant and improve their life quality against complications," noted Dr Wu Depei, director of the Chinese Medical Association's hematology branch, which also called for perfecting a stem cell transplant mechanism and system for better planning and resource allocation in different regions for unified development and better treatment outcome for patients.