Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplants in your 60’s or 70’s?
 

Greetings All, A family member was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia last year. Doctors have tried several different medications and nothing has increased her counts. She has been going for blood transfusions almost twice a week. Some doctors didn’t think a BMT was viable considering her age, 70. Her newest doctor is recommending it and they are looking for a match. The Dr said that BMT technology has been advancing and that she would be on the “frontier” of that technology.
Older online articles mention age limits around 50. Newer articles seem to be more open to BMTs on older patients using mini transplants. Looking through this forum I saw some posts with people in their 70s getting transplants but they didn’t specify which type.

I’m posting here hoping to gain some info on older patients receiving an allogeneic BMTs as we’re still deciding on whether or not to go through with it. Do you think 70 is too old? What has recovery/success rates been like for people of this age? Any thoughts or info on this would be much appreciated. Thank you :)

Firstly, it is different for each person. 70 is not too old if a person is in otherwise very good health. That is a very important determining factor. I had a stem cell transplant last year at age 68. Others have been over 70. I have a friend that had his last week at age 72. Anyone at these ages is going to get a "mini" transplant. It just means that the chemo leading to the transplant is not as intense. I had mine because I wouldn't be alive now without it. It is a tough choice but I have zero regrets for choosing to have had the stem cell transplant.

What are her counts at this time? Waiting until things get worse will eventually make the decision much more difficult, or possible.

I second Bailie. I had SCT a year ago at age 73. I am 100% engrafted with my sisters stem cells and they are feisty. Complications are common such as GVHD, c.diff, and CMV. I lived through all of it. I was probably removed from the transplant drugs too soon. Right now I am suffering from moderate GVHD of the eyes, mouth, and skin. They are working to try to fix it up. Without the the SCT I would not be writing this. If in passable health a SCT at 70 should not be a problem. I would do it again in a heart beat. Some of my saga has been posted here. Depending on severity 3 year survival rates are in the 40 to 60% range. In my case this beats 0% without.

If you are looking for more exact odds go to http://bloodcell.transplant.hrsa.gov.../survival.aspx

Ray

Lots of information at this site:

http://www.aamds.org/search/node/transplants

Like others have stated, most med profs use the age of 70 as the max age for a trans. I would assume that there are exceptions for ppl in really good physical shape; other than their blood disorder of course. I have heard that some transplant programs specialize in non-perfect match transplants, etc., so the same is prob true for advanced age patients. Good luck in your treatment.

Thanks for the replies everyone. They did find matches for her but she did not do well during the neurological exam. She will not be given a BMT due to impaired cognitive function. Short term memory is really bad.
Atgam, cyclosporin, promatca (eltrombopag) have not helped her counts. She needs transfusions at least twice a week. Her picc line was in over a year. She has a blood infection and they believed the picc to be the source so they just removed it and put in a new one in her other arm. Sloan Kettering docs gave us contacts at NIH so she can take part in clinical trials there. Its her last hope. She asked about a prognosis and a doctor gave her months to live.
I will be reading posts in the clinical trials section and post any questions that I have there.
Thanks