Background and objective: There is scarce information on the influence of stem cell transplantation (SCT) on the prognosis of patients with hematological malignancies admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU).
Patients and method: The mortality during ICU admission, long-term survival and the prognostic factors for survival were analyzed and compared in transplanted vs. non-transplanted patients.
Results: 116 critically-ill patients with a hematological malignancy transferred to the ICU in a single institution were analyzed. Thirty patients had received SCT prior to ICU admission. Transplanted and non-transplanted patients were comparable for demographic variables (except age and disease status) and reasons for ICU admission. No differences were found in overall survival or survival after discharge from ICU between transplanted and non-transplanted patients. Thirty-nine out of 85 non-transplanted patients (46%) and 11 out of 31 transplanted patients (35%) could be discharged from the ICU. The prognostic factors for survival in non-transplanted patients were need of mechanical ventilation or cardiovascular vasoactive drugs. However, only the liver function impairment predicted the outcome in the transplanted patients through the multivariate analysis.
Conclusions: A significant proportion of patients admitted to ICU were discharged despite previous SCT. These patients did not have a worse prognosis than those transferred to the ICU with a hematologic malignancy, although the prognostic factors for survival were different in the 2 groups of patients.