Most patients of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) require red blood cell (RBC) or platelet transfusion during their disease courses, which could cause an increased risk of iron overload and alloimmunization. However, it remains less clear whether pretransplantation RBC or platelet transfusion burden affects transplant outcomes in patients with MDS. The objective was to examine the significance of pretransplantation RBC and platelet transfusion burden on transplant outcomes after allogeneic HCT for adults with de novo MDS. We retrospectively evaluated the effect of pretransplantation RBC or platelet transfusion burden on transplant outcomes in a cohort of 1007 adult patients with de novo MDS treated by upfront allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) between 2006 and 2018. Both higher pretransplantation RBC and platelet transfusion burdens were significantly associated with higher overall mortality and relapse-related mortality, but not non-relapse mortality in the multivariate analysis. Higher pretransplantation RBC transfusion burden was also significantly associated with lower neutrophil, platelet, and reticulocyte recovery in the multivariate analysis. In summary, our study clearly demonstrated that a higher pretransplantation RBC and platelet transfusion burden was independently associated with higher overall mortality, relapse-related mortality, and lower hematopoietic recovery after allogeneic HCT for de novo MDS. Early allogeneic HCT should be considered for patients with de novo MDS who require RBC and platelet transfusion repeatedly.
Keywords: Allogeneic transplantation; Anti-HLA antibodies; Myelodysplastic syndrome; Platelets, transfusion; Red blood cells.
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