Survival outcomes in patients with MF undergoing transplantation: Role of comorbidities and BMI

For patients with myelofibrosis (MF), transplant suitability is determined by several factors, including age, disease status, comorbidities, performance status, and donor availability, and is currently, based on the Myelofibrosis Transplant Scoring System (MTSS).¹

Recently, a new scoring system, the Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation-Specific Comorbidity Index (HCT-CI), has been identified to assess role of comorbidities and body mass index (BMI) in transplant prognostication for patients with MF. Here, we summarize a retrospective study by Polverelli N et al.¹

Study design¹

• Patients with MF who had not undergone transplant but were selected to undergo transplant in chronic phase were included in this study.
• Endpoints included overall survival (OS) and non-relapse mortality (NRM) in patients classed as low-, intermediate-, or high-risk according to the HCT-CI.

Key findings¹

• Overall, 4,086 patients with MF were included in the analysis, and 54% of patients with comorbidity data had ≥1 comorbidity.
  • Pulmonary conditions were most prevalent (12.7% were moderate, and 6.8% were severe).
  • Prevalence of massive splenomegaly was lower in high-risk vs intermediate- and low-risk patients (17% vs 22% and 28%, respectively).
• The 5-year NRM and OS rates were higher in patients assessed as high-risk compared with low-risk, according to the HCT-CI (Table 1).
  • This indicated that comorbidities continue to impact transplant outcomes and should be part of the transplant selection process alongside existing criteria.

Table 1. 5-year survival rates in patients with low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients with MF*

• No significant differences were found across BMI groups and NRM, and OS (p = 0.5 and p = 0.3, respectively).
  • In this context, patients who are overweight and obese should not be excluded from transplant. However, this contrasts with findings from other studies, and further evaluation is needed to clarify the role of BMI in transplant outcomes.