Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Japan, a report from a Nationwide Survey in 2019

Abstract

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) offers potentially curative treatment for a wide range of otherwise fatal hematologic disorders, and the number of HSCTs has continued to increase over the last 20 years; more than 5,000 allogeneic and autologous HSCTs have been performed annually in recent years. A constant increase of allogeneic HSCTs for older (aged over 50) patients, and an increase in the variety of donor/stem cell sources such as cord blood from unrelated donors have led to this constant increase of HSCT in Japan. The transplant survival outcome also continues to improve and the assets for the improvement include better supportive care, innovative transplant approaches, and the considerable contribution of a well-established transplant outcome registry to a variety of clinical studies.