Roswell Park’s Outcomes for Blood and Marrow Transplant Among the Nation’s Highest

BUFFALO, NY — Outcomes for patients treated through the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (Roswell Park) are among the highest in the nation. For the second consecutive year, a report compiled by the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) shows that the one-year survival rate for transplant patients treated at Roswell Park was significantly higher than expected, affirming Roswell Park’s position among the elite of U.S. centers performing the procedure.

Blood and marrow transplantation (BMT), which involves infusion of bone marrow or hematopoietic cells from the patient or a donor, is commonly used to treat many blood cancers, including some forms of leukemia, multiple myeloma and lymphoma. The CIBMTR is an international research organization that collects and publishes data from centers that perform BMT, toward the goal of advancing hematopoietic cell transplantation and cellular therapy research worldwide.

According to the CIBMTR’s 2011 report, which was based on data for transplants performed between 2007 and 2009, risk-adjusted one-year survival for patients transplanted at Roswell Park was significantly superior to the predicted outcome, placing Roswell Park among the top 9 percent of U.S. centers offering BMT. The CIBMTR adjusts raw data to account for the level of risk represented among a facility’s transplanted population, based on factors such as degree of tissue match/mismatch and type of transplant. The Center assigned the Roswell Park program to the highest possible risk category, indicating that its BMT cases for the period were among the most complex and difficult in the nation.

“It’s enormously gratifying to see our efforts translate to documented quality improvement. We provide care for very high-risk patients, and it’s exciting to know that our approaches are working even among this very high-risk group,” said Lisa Privitere, RN, BSN, OCN, Nurse Administrator for Roswell Park’s Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. “The CIBMTR report underscores just how important multidisciplinary care and evidence-based approaches are for success in treating cancer through BMT. I know they’ve made a difference for our patients.”

The mission of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. Roswell Park, founded in 1898, was one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. The Institute is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs. For more information, visit Roswell Park’s website at https://www.roswellpark.org/, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email AskRoswell@Roswellpark.org.