Donor Bone Marrow Transplants Help Patients with Severe Lymphoma

In a Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center study, over half of patients with slow-growing, drug resistant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were alive and well almost six years after receiving bone marrow transplants using donated marrow.

The patients, most of whom had disease that was resistant to standard treatment, were given a transplant using marrow treated to prevent rejection problems. Of the 16 patients treated, 10 are alive and have had no disease progression nearly six years after the transplant.

"We have seen very good survival and a low relapse rate in these patients who otherwise have a poor prognosis," said Mark B. Juckett, MD, formerly an Assistant Professor of Medicine.

The results of Dr. Juckett's research are published in the May 1998 issue of the journal Bone Marrow Transplantation (vol. 21, no. 9, pp. 893-899).

MCW Health News presents up-to-date information on patient care and medical research by the physicians of the Medical College of Wisconsin.