Optimizing Transplantation Outcomes Across Hematologic Oncology Populations

At the Seventh Annual Miami Cancer Institute Immunotherapies Summit for Hematologic Malignancies hosted by Baptist Health, experts across hematologic oncology presented new findings on the use of stem cell transplantation and other treatment combinations across leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and other malignancies. Following the meeting, Guenther Koehne, MD, the symposium director, spoke with CancerNetwork^® about how the use of allogeneic stem cell transplant (allo-SCT) should continue to evolve across the field.

According to Koehne, risk stratification may help elucidate which patient populations are most likely to benefit from transplantation. For example, those with relatively good-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) may be eligible to skip transplantation if any adverse effects outweigh the potential therapeutic benefits. On the other hand, those with higher-risk diseases may still benefit from transplantation as the only potentially “curative approach.”

Koehne is deputy director and chief of Blood and Marrow Transplant, Hematologic Oncology and Benign Hematology at Miami Cancer Institute.

Transcript:

Autologous stem cell transplant itself is basically limited to patients with multiple myeloma who still benefit from autologous transplant. The integration of autologous stem cell transplant for these patients is still the standard of care. The donor-derived or allogeneic stem cell transplants are the ones performed for patients with acute myeloid leukemia [AML], [MDS], and myeloproliferative disorders. We now have risk stratification for all these diseases [in] deciding whether the patient will benefit from transplantation. You don’t want to overtreat a [patient with] relatively good-risk MDS or relatively good-risk [AML] with an [allo-SCT] if the [adverse] effects would basically reduce the outcome.

But if it’s a high-risk disease or intermediate-risk disease, patients still benefit from an allogeneic stem cell transplantation, and [it] provides the only curative approach for these diseases... The question was, "Do the patients need the transplant?" Yes, they do need the transplant. Now, the focus is, "How can we improve the outcome of these transplants [by] improving progression-free and overall survival, but also improving and maintaining quality of life?"

Reference

Miami Cancer Institute Immunotherapies Summit for Hematologic Malignancies, Seventh Annual. Baptist Health. Accessed March 16, 2026. https://tinyurl.com/mpntcth2