UNMC/NHS Celebrates 1,000th Transplant for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

The University of Nebraska Medical Center/Nebraska Health System recently

reached a milestone in its treatment of patients with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

On Oct. 19, Andrew Rowe, 47, of Overland Park, Kan., became the 1,000th

non-Hodgkins lymphoma patient to receive a transplant at UNMC/NHS. Rowe

received an allogeneic stem cell transplant using stem cells donated by

his 48-year-old brother, Daniel, who lives in Denver.

This is a significant marker in our mission to treat patients with

the latest and most effective methods available, said Phil Bierman, M.D.,

a UNMC College of Medicine faculty member and an oncologist with NHS, UNMCs

health sciences partner.

UNMC first used a bone marrow transplant to treat a non-Hodgkins lymphoma

patient in 1983, a year after James O. Armitage, M.D., began the lymphoma

program at UNMC. Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is a malignant (cancerous) growth

of B or T cells in the lymph system. There are about 56,000 cases of the

disease diagnosed nationwide each year, eight times as many as Hodgkins

disease cases.

Since UNMC/NHS treated its first patient, many changes have occurred

in the way the health sciences center administers the transplants.

Initially, all transplants were autologous, meaning a patients own

bone marrow was used. Early transplant recipients were put under general

anesthesia while physicians extracted the patients bone marrow through

large needles that were inserted into the hip bone. After the patient underwent

high-dose chemotherapy, the bone marrow was then re-introduced into the

patient.

Today, most patients undergo a procedure before they receive chemotherapy

that resembles giving blood at a local Red Cross. During the initial procedure,

blood is taken from a patient, filtered to isolate and capture peripheral

stem cells and then returned to the patient.

After a patient undergoes chemotherapy which kills the cancerous cells

along with the bodys useful cells the stem cells are re-introduced into

the patient. Those stem cells then rebuild the patients immune system,

with the assistance of specific drugs commonly called growth factors.

In addition to providing greater comfort to the patients, todays procedures

also are less expensive because the patient spends much of his or her time

recovering in the Lied Transplant Center, as compared to recovering within

the hospital. The Lied Center, which opened in 1999, was the first treatment

facility to use cooperative care, a concept that includes a designated

family member or friend to help tend to the patients needs during treatment

and recovery.

Theres no way, 17 years ago, that anyone would have thought that wed

be doing transplants using the mechanisms we use today, said Dr. Armitage,

who still treats patients in addition to his administrative duties as dean

of the UNMC College of Medicine. Its a tremendous credit to the advances

in medical science and, more specifically, the initiative, ingenuity and

hard work of the UNMC transplant team.

The technique using peripheral stem cells was pioneered by Anne Kessinger,

M.D., an oncologist and associate director of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center.

Dr. Kessinger first used the technique in 1984, and by 1992, UNMC had begun

to perform more stem cell transplants than those using bone marrow.

Dr. Kessingers work with stem cell transplants was ground-breaking,

Dr. Bierman said. Worldwide, she really is seen as the pioneer in this

means of transplantation.

Other milestones in UNMCs treatment of non-Hodgkins lymphoma include

· Formation of the Nebraska Lymphoma Study Group in 1982. The

group is an ongoing, statewide collection of oncologists, pathologists

and other health-care professionals who provide clinical and tissue samples

of lymphoma patients for analysis at UNMC. The collaboration improves diagnostic

and treatments methods.

· Establishment of a pediatric bone marrow transplant program

in 1987.

· Joining the National Comprehensive Cancer Network a network

of 13 of the nations leading cancer centers, in 1995.

We have achieved much over the past 20 years, but work remains to be

done, Dr. Armitage said. Lymphoma still affects a great many people all

over the world. The disease is the enemy, and we will use our expertise

to research and practice the best ways to treat and defeat it.

Rowe, the 1,000th transplant recipient, was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkins

lymphoma in December 1998. He was treated in Kansas City with chemotherapy,

but his disease recurred in February 2000, necessitating his journey to

UNMC/NHS for his transplant.

A professional public speaker who presents business seminars around

the country for Padgett Thompson, Rowe and his wife, Chris, have been married

for 24 years. They have two children Beth, 19, and J.D., 14.