Hematopoietic precursor cell transplants in Europe: activity in 1994. Report from the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT).

This report, the fifth of a series, summarizes indications and donor source of hematopoietic precursor cell transplants performed in Europe in 1994 and illustrates the evolution since 1990. 306 teams in 30 participating countries performed a total of 10 066 transplants, 3502 allogeneic and 6564 autologous transplants. In 1990, there were only 143 teams and a total of 4234 transplants, 2137 allogeneic and 2097 autologous transplants. Main indications in 1994 were leukemias with 3881 transplants (39%), 2635 allogeneic (75%) and 1246 autologous (19%) transplants; lymphomas with 3760 transplants (37%), 245 allogeneic (7%) and 3515 autologous (54%) transplants; severe aplastic anemia with 250 transplants (2%), 248 allogeneic (7%) and 2 autologous transplants; solid tumors with 1800 transplants (18%), 13 allogeneic and 1787 autologous (27%) transplants and congenital disorders with 375 (4%) transplants, 361 allogeneic (11%) and 14 autologous transplants. The relative proportion of the main indication has stayed unchanged for allogeneic transplants. There was, in contrast, a marked increase in lymphomas and solid tumors, ie mainly for breast carcinoma, as an indication for autologous transplants since 1990. For the 3502 allogeneic transplants, the donor was an HLA-identical sibling in 2677 cases (76%), an HLA non-identical family member in 195 cases (6%), a syngeneic twin in 45 cases (1%) and an unrelated donor in 585 cases (17%). Donor source was bone marrow for 3322 allogeneic (95%) and 1869 autologous (29%) transplants, peripheral blood for 180 allogeneic (5%) and 4289 autologous (65%) transplants and a combination of bone marrow and peripheral blood for a few allogeneic and 406 autologous (6%) transplants. The relative proportion of peripheral blood as a source for autologous transplants has changed since 1991 from 15 to 72.1% in 1994. A similar trend for allogeneic transplants is just emerging.