The Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program was established in 1991. The program is Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) certified since 2002.  It emphasizes clinical trial development including investigator-initiated as well as cooperative group trials.  All patients are transplanted on a clinical research study.  The program continues to emphasize excellence in clinical care and patient outcomes.

The RPCI BMT program offers a wide range of transplant-related services including cord blood transplant, reduced intensity BMT, unrelated donor BMT, case management, quality assurance program, a dedicated on-site outpatient BMT clinic adjacent to the inpatient unit and on-site blood and marrow collection and processing.  A unique aspect of our program is the presence of a clinical epidemiologist who monitors all BMT patient outcomes and oversees the BMT database.  This attention to patient outcomes allows the program to make adjustments in clinical services to optimize patient care.

BMT 1,000th Patient Celebration

 

All patients who are considered for BMT and for tissue typing for potential BMT are reviewed by the RPCI Transplant Service on a weekly basis.  Patient must fulfill protocol

eligibility before transplant so ensure optimal patient outcomes.  Patients are evaluated and monitored from time of presentation through the entire continuum of care related to BMT, not just the BMT episode.

Roswell Park has made the following programmatic changes, based on Program outcomes, to safely offer BMT to patients who otherwise could not have undergone transplant in the past.

• First, RPCI decreased the minimum age for transplant from five years to four years for our pediatric population.
• Second, RPCI increased the age for sibling allogeneic reduced intensity transplant from 70 to 75 years. The maximum age for reduced intensity unrelated donor transplant has been increased from 60 to 65 years. These age changes were the result of the development of a reduced intensity transplant regimen that can be used safely for patients who otherwise would not have been eligible for transplant in the past.

The Lymphoma, Leukemia and Myeloma clinical programs have novel therapeutic trials that interface with the BMT program. In late 2004 we will be opening a new investigator-initiated protocol to examine the use of selective T cell depletion and T cell infusion during allogeneic BMT. Three physicians were recruited in 2004 to the Leukemia Program and RPCI is currently recruiting additional physicians for the Hematologic Malignancies Program.

The RPCI BMT program participates in the Cancer and Leukemia Group B Cooperative Group which has opened several BMT protocols for allogeneic transplant after failed autologous transplant, non-myeloablative allogeneic transplant for older acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, allogeneic transplant for multiple myeloma, autologous transplant for AML, autologous transplant for Philadelphia chromosome positive lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and autologous transplant for myeloma followed by maintenance immunomodulatory drug therapy versus placebo.

In addition, RPCI BMT participates as an affiliate member of the NCI/NHLBI-sponsored Transplant Trials Group and has opened the trial examining the use of peripheral blood versus bone marrow for unrelated donor allogeneic transplant. RPCI also has IRB approved protocols for the use of bone marrow cells to induce vascular angiogenesis, for the collection and storage of t(9:22) chromosome negative stem cell products from CML patients for later use for auto BMT and for novel approaches to reduced intensity BMT.