North Gwinnett News

The Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program at Northside Hospital Cancer Institute — one of the largest and most comprehensive bone marrow transplant programs in the Southeast — again has been recognized as having among the very best survival outcomes in the U.S. for bone marrow transplants. 

It's the 14th consecutive year (2009-22) for the Northside BMT Program to earn this recognition. No other transplant program in the nation has achieved this milestone. 

The Centers for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) provided the data in its Final 2022 Transplant Center Survival Report, which tabulated patient survival following transplantation at 175 adult and pediatric transplant centers in the U.S. 

Patients transplanted at the BMT Program at Northside had an 81.3% one-year survival rate, which places the program in the 95th percentile for survival when compared to risk-adjusted predicted outcome (p< 0.5). Northside is the only center in Georgia to achieve outcomes statistically superior to expectations and is one of only 15 centers in the U.S. to achieve this status for the current 2022 reporting cycle. No other center in the nation has a streak of 14 consecutive annual reporting cycles with superior outcomes. 

“This unmatched result of 14 consecutive years of survival outcomes that exceed expectations on the national standardized comparison of transplant centers is an astonishing achievement for Northside Hospital and for Georgia, and is an indication that patients receive the very best transplant care here,” Dr. Asad Bashey, the director of clinical research for the BMT Program at Northside, said. 

Dr. Bashey noted the BMT Program at Northside is the largest allogeneic transplant center in the state. 

“However, success is not just a result of our size, but of the level of expertise of our clinical teams, our dedicated state-of-the-art facilities, and the innovative policies and procedures at our center that are focused singularly at providing the very best results possible following transplantation.” 

The BMT Program at Northside is one of the largest and most comprehensive programs of its kind in the Southeast. The Program is among select centers in the country offering FDA-approved commercial and clinical research chimeric antigen receptor CAR T-cell therapy, one of the most promising cellular-based cancer immunotherapies available. Northside also has pioneered the use of outpatient management even for the most complex transplant procedures and the safe use of alternative donors when conventional donors may not be available. 

Original source can be found here.