Early renal injury after nonmyeloablative allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation in patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia

Background: Renal insufficiency is a common complication early after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Over the past several years, significant advancement has been achieved in HSCT, especially in nonmyeloablative stem cell transplantation. Compared with traditional HSCT, nonmyeloablative HSCT employs significantly lower doses of chemoradiotherapy and lower toxicity. The current study evaluated renal insufficiency during the first 100 days in patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia ( CML) who underwent nonmyeloablative allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (allo-PBSCT) in a single center. Methods: A total of 26 consecutive patients with CML received nonmyeloablative allo-PBSCT from 2002 to 2005 in Zhong Da Hospital. The average age of the patients was 40.2 +/- 8.2 years. Renal function was measured by serum creatinine concentration and estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) during the first 100 days after nonmyeloablative allo-PBSCT. Renal dysfunction was classified as follows: grade 0 (< 25% decline in GFR), grade 1 (>= 25% decrese in GFR but < twofold rising in serum creatinine), grade 2 ( 6 twofold increase in serum creatinine but no need for dialysis) and grade 3 ( 6 twofold increase in serum creatinine and need for dialysis). Acute renal failure (ARF) was defined as a doubling of baseline serum creatinine, grade 2 and grade 3. Results: All the patients were successfully engrafted. Of the 26 patients, 10 (38%) patients had some degree of renal dysfunction ( grade 1, 5 patients; grade 2, 4 patients; grade 3, 1 patient). They developed ARF at an average of 32.8 +/- 4.0 days after transplantation. No significant difference was observed in terms of age, baseline serum creatinine, albumin and hemoglobin between the patients with ARF and without ARF. Renal dysfunction was associated with significantly higher frequencies of sepsis and hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD, p < 0.01, respectively). The overall mortality rate at the end of 100 days was 19% (5/26). The mortality rate for patients with ARF was significantly higher than those without ARF (p < 0.001). Conclusion: During the first 100 days following non-myeloablative allo-PBSCT in patients with CML, a 38% incidence of renal dysfunction and a 19% of ARF were found, which were much less than previous studies. Sepsis and VOD were significantly correlated with the development of renal dysfunction. Severe nephrotoxicity was associated with the increase in mortality. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.