autologous blood and marrow transplantation - Blog Science ...

346 Chapter 6: Breast Cancer
Table 2. Patient characteristics
Characteristic n
Number of patients 442
Age
Median 45 years
Range 23-65 years
Stage at transplant
Stage II 49
4 to 9 positive nodes 17
>9 positive nodes 32
Stage III 86
Noninflammatory 69
Inflammatory 17
Stage IV 307
CR 53
PR 73
°=0.12). The presence of more than one site of metastases was associated with an
inferior progression-free survival (Fig. 4). A site is defined as a site of organ
involvement rather than a solitary metastatic lesion. The presence of minimal bone
marrow metastases detected by K19 was associated with an inferior outcome (Fig.
5A); however, the presence of K19 in the peripheral blood stem cell product did
not influence outcome (P=0.07). Factors that did not influence outcome included
the estrogen receptor status (P=0.3$), the site of disease (bone only vs. other sites)
(/>=0.23), the source of stem cells (P=0.97), or the age of the patient (P=0.24).
DISCUSSION
Selection of appropriate candidates for high-dose chemotherapy remains an area
of active research and controversy. We describe the results of a large series of
patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplant for
the treatment of breast cancer. These studies evaluate outcomes following different
high-dose treatment regimens as well as in multiple clinical settings in an attempt