Risk Factors for Solid Organ Graft Failure and Death in Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipients Undergoing Solid Organ Transplantation: A Retrospective Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research and Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Study

BACKGROUND: There is a growing population of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) survivors who later require a solid organ transplant (SOT). However, there are limited data on survival, risk factors (RFs) for SOT graft loss, and death.
METHODS: This is a retrospective Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research study that included recipients of HCT followed by SOT between 2001 and 2017. HCT data were merged with data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
RESULTS: Eighty patients underwent autologous (45%) or allogeneic (55%) HCT followed by single SOT. Common indications for HCT included leukemia/myelodysplastic syndrome (45%) and plasma cell disorders (38.8%). The median time from HCT to SOT was 47.7 mo. There were 49 kidney, 26 thoracic, and 5 liver transplants. Overall survival from SOT was significantly different by organ (P = 0.01). Three-year overall survival by organ type was 85% among kidney, 70.7% among thoracic, and 30% among liver SOT recipients. Significant RFs for death included lymphoma versus plasma cell disorders and SOT type; thoracic and liver SOT carried a greater risk of death than kidney SOT. There was no significant difference in SOT failure incidence by SOT type; 3-y overall incidence was 27.8%. RFs for SOT graft loss included lymphoma, liver SOT, and positive recipient cytomegalovirus status at SOT.
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, liver SOT recipients had inferior outcomes. However, renal and thoracic SOT recipients after HCT have acceptable outcomes compared with those of the general SOT population, and thus, SOT should be considered a viable treatment option in these patients.

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Transplantation, 2025-06-25