Disability Related to Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major cause of long-term morbidity and late mortality in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) survivors [2,3]. Chronic GVHD is a heterogenous syndrome in which most patients have at least three involved organs (most commonly skin, mouth, liver or eyes, but also gastrointestinal tract, lung, joints, and genital tract), and treatment typically requires prolonged (median 5 years) use of immunosuppressive agents [4]. Chronic GVHD and its treatment are thus often associated with several adverse effects on long-term quality of life and functional abilities among HCT survivors [5 –7].

Source: Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation - October 23, 2019 Category: Hematology Authors: Betty K. Hamilton, Barry E. Storer, William A. Wood, Joseph A. Pidala, Corey S. Cutler, Paul J. Martin, George Chen, Mary E. Flowers, Stephanie J. Lee Source Type: research