Having performed 3000 transplants over the past 20 years, the bone marrow/peripheral
stem cell transplant program at UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center is
firmly established among the elite programs in the country.
In terms of transplants performed, we have done more transplants than
anyone for non-Hodgkins lymphoma, said Julie Vose, M.D., professor and
chief of the section of hematology/oncology, UNMC department of internal
medicine. Overall, for total transplants performed for all types of cancer,
we probably rank among the top five centers.
Even though more transplant centers exist than ever before, we continue
to attract patients from throughout the U.S. and around the world. I think
that speaks volumes for our program.
Of the first 3000 transplants, 1,205 (40.1 percent) have been for non-Hodgkins
lymphoma. The breakdown after that is: 528 (17.8 percent), leukemia; 467
(15.5 percent), Hodgkins disease; 393 (13.1 percent), breast cancer; 174
(5.8 percent), other malignancies; 120 (4 percent), multiple melanoma;
65 (2.1 percent), other non-malignancies; and 48 (1.6 percent), myelodysplastic
syndromes.
The medical centers transplant team has performed transplants on patients
from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 12 foreign countries.
Patients from Nebraska represent 34 percent of the transplant volume, followed
by Iowa patients with 10 percent, Kansas patients with 6 percent, and Missouri
and Colorado patients with 5 percent.
Weve been doing this a long time, have extensive experience and have
published results, said Phil Bierman, M.D., an oncologist for The Nebraska
Medical Center and associate professor in the UNMC internal medicine department.
Were a whole lot better now than we were the first year. Then, about
a third of the patients died before they left the hospital.
When we first started doing transplants, we just wanted to get people
through the transplant. Now, its very rare for a patient to die from complications
of the transplant. The growth factor drugs have made a huge difference.
In the early days of the transplant program, patients were typically
in the hospital for a couple months following a transplant, Dr. Vose said.
Now, patients stay in the Lied Transplant Center instead of the hospital
and usually go home a couple weeks after their transplant.
Dr. Bierman cited several factors for the success of the program. We
have the best nurses who do a great job caring for the patients. They are
highly experienced, he said. We have a team approach. Anybody can do
a transplant when things go well. But when patients have problems, thats
when you need experience and expertise.
We have a great team of specialists — pulmonologists, gastroenterologists,
infectious disease specialists — and great help from the laboratory, radiology,
pathology and others. They are responsive, helpful and interested in our
problems. If we didnt have those people, we couldnt do this.
Were only the tip of the iceberg. The Lied Transplant Center certainly
makes UNMC a nicer place to do transplants. Its a beautiful place. It
allows us to provide cooperative care and patients love that. They like
the comfortable setting and the easy access, especially if theyre from
out of town. But mostly they like the people here.
Dr. Bierman said he is optimistic that the program will continue to
improve thanks to the discovery of new drugs, such as combining chemotherapy
with antibodies to kill lymphoma cells, enhancing the immune system after
therapy, vaccines, and the use of antisense molecules.