KU Hospital posts record year for blood, marrow transplant program

Dr. Joseph McGuirk, medical director of the BMT program, told board members that BMT staff performed a record 230 transplants in calendar year 2012, a 7 percent increase from 2011. He also mentioned the number of photopheresis treatments – a procedure for patients with graft-versus-host disease – jumped 27 percent to 1,915, the most ever.

Blood and marrow transplants are life-saving treatments for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, bone marrow failure syndromes and other related blood diseases.  Affiliated with The University of Kansas Cancer Center, the BMT program is the only one in the region and one of the largest acute leukemia programs in the nation.

“The success we continue to achieve with the BMT program is due to our outstanding clinical, ancillary and support staff, and hospital infrastructure" Dr. McGuirk told the Authority Board. "Working as a team, we are able to save more lives every day."

More importantly, Dr. McGuirk, a professor of hematology and oncology at The University of Kansas School of Medicine, noted that patient outcomes were among the nation’s best.  According to a recent UHC report for calendar year 2012, for (Autologous) transplants for patients with multiple myeloma and (Allogeneic) transplants for patients with acute myelogenous leukemia the program recorded no inpatient deaths.  

(Autologous transplants refers to a type of transplant where a patient is treated with their own cells harvested before chemotherapy; Allogeneic transplants refer to the type of transplant where a patient is treated with stem cells which were donated by another person.)  

In addition, the program brought in these results while having a shorter length of stay and lower costs than the other major BMT programs in the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) database.  UHC’s membership includes more than 100 of the top academic hospitals in the country.

Other highlights of BMT's year:

•    The BMT team performed 28 transplants in August 2012, a record month. March 2012 also saw a record number of BMT referrals, 44.

•    The number of new BMT patients enrolled in clinical trials totaled 91 in 2012, up 8 percent. Clinical trials are an important factor in the cancer center's application to become a comprehensive National Cancer Institute facility, the next level of NCI designation.

•    One of 96 accredited bone marrow donor collection centers in the nation, the BMT Program is a core center for the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) Clinical Trials Network (CTN).

•    Performed more than 1,800 transplants since program’s inception in 1977.  

•    The BMT program performs all types of stem cell transplants and is one of a few centers in the nation to perform cord blood transplants and donors transplants from family members who are a half match, not a full match, which is referred to as a “haploidentical” donor.

Because of its success, plans are underway to expand space for the Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) program at the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Care Pavilion in Westwood, Kan.  The BMT program will add more than 4,000 square feet of clinical space.  Space will be available for the expansion when the Plastic Surgery offices at Westwood moved to The University of Kansas Hospital’s new Indian Creek Campus at I-435 and Nall.

-Story from KU Hospital