Patients with hematologic malignancies who relapsed after first allogenic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) had improved odds of being alive and disease free at 1 year if they had a second transplant, according to a retrospective evaluation involving 127 individuals.

Investigators assessed overall and disease free survival rates in participants who underwent a second transplant for any type of hematologic malignancy at a single institution. Among the results:

• 1 year overall survival rate was 35%; disease free survival rate was 25%.
• Disease presence at second transplant, full donor chimerism before second transplant, malignancy type, and donor type did not impact survival.
• Whether second transplant was due to relapse or graft failure had no impact on survival.
• 6 patients who had a second transplant for graft vs host disease or treatment-related myelodysplastic syndrome had a 5-fold increased risk of death.
• Patients who received myeloablative conditioning regimens experienced better overall and disease free survival than those who received nonmyeloablative conditioning.