Value of pretransplant pulmonary function tests in predicting pulmonary complications after autologous peripheral stem cell transplantation.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of pulmonary function tests performed before an autologous peripheral stem cell transplant (APSCT) in identifying patients who are at risk for developing post-transplant pulmonary complications. This retrospective study included patients who underwent autologous peripheral stem cell transplantation from January 1997 to December 2006. The total sample consisted of 43 patients with 24 patients (55.8%) having multiple myeloma, 9 patients (20.9%) having Hodgkin's lymphoma, and 10 patients (23.3%) having non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The patients' average age at the time of diagnosis and at the time of APSCT was 41.8 +/- 14.6 and 43.1 +/- 14.2 years, respectively. After APSCT, 8 patients (18.6%) had pulmonary complications all of which were infectious pneumonia. The mean pretransplant forced midexpiratory flow (FEF(25-75%)) in the patients who developed post-transplant pulmonary complications was significantly lower than the mean pretransplant FEF(25-75%) in the patients who did not develop post-transplant pulmonary complications (75.5 +/- 19.9% vs. 104.3 +/- 24.5%, p = 0.004). There were no other differences in the pretransplant pulmonary function test parameters between the patients who developed post-transplant pulmonary complications and the patients who did not develop post-transplant pulmonary complications. Our results showed that patients with decreased pretransplant FEF(25-75%) are at risk for developing pulmonary complications in the post autologous stem cell transplantation period.