[pjollopParticipant]

I see that the journalist sue Lloyd Roberts has acute myeloid leukaemia and is looking for a donor match for a stem cell transplant. She is 63. So why can she have a donor sst when a myeloma patient of the same age would’nt be offered one ?
(I am not suggesting any preferential treatment )
Thanks
Peter

• This topic was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by  pjollop.

[ellenModerator]

Dear Peter

I am sorry that, as yet, no one has responded to your post, I hope you don’t mind that I have tried to clarify things for you.

As you know, Acute Myeloid Leukaemia and Myeloma are different and as such are treated differently following many years of research in developing best current treatment and best current practice.

When Acute Myeloid Leukaemia is aggressive, high risk and likely to relapse after standard treatment, donor (allogeneic) stem cell transplant is the treatment of choice but only feasible in patients with good general health, even in patients who may be deemed ‘older’. It may be the only option available for these patients.

Donor stem cell transplant is done much less frequently in Myeloma as there are significant risks associated with the procedure specifically graft versus host disease, this is especially true for older or less fit patients for whom there may be other more tolerable treatments. The upper age limit at most accredited centres is 50-60 years  though careful consideration on an individual patient basis is necessary irrespective of age.

Myeloma UK has an Infosheet specifically on Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation which you can download here: http://www.myeloma.org.uk/information/myeloma-uk-publications-list/myeloma-treatment/allogeneic-stem-cell-transplantation-in-myeloma-infosheet/

I hope this is helpful but if you would like to speak to a Myeloma Information Specialist at Myeloma UK then please do call the Myeloma Infoline on 0800 980 3332 or email directly to askthenurse@myeloma.org.uk

With best wishes

[Author]

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