[Extracorporeal photopheresis in treatment of chronic graft versus host disease].

Extracorporeal Photopheresis for Non-skin GvHD.

Graft versus host disease (GvHD) is one of the most feared adverse events of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In severe grades of GvHD patients die from infections due to impairment of their immune defense or therapy-refractory involvement of intestines, liver and lung. Extracorporeal photopheresis is an effective treatment for acute and chronic graft versus host disease with...

A Critical Appraisal of Extracorporeal Photopheresis as a Treatment Modality for Acute and Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Although significant advances have been made in the biologic understanding of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and its treatment options, GVHD remains the single most challenging obstacle to the success of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) due to high risk of disabling morbidity and mortality. Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) has promising effects in controlling steroid-refr...

Compassionate use of ruxolitinib in acute and chronic graft versus host disease refractory both to corticosteroids and extracorporeal photopheresis

Background Ruxolitinib is a potent inhibitor of JAK1/2 with proven efficacy in myelofibrosis. In recent years, research in graft versus host disease (GVHD) has revealed the role of activation of JAK pathways in alloreactive lymphocytes. Some reports have shown significant responses in refractory GVHD patients. Cases presentation In this report we present our experience in 8 patients with acut...

Management of chronic graft-versus-host disease.

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is an immune-mediated disorder that adversely affects quality of life and clinical outcomes in patients following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Conventional treatment of GVHD includes prolonged and high-dose corticosteroids; however, those drugs are associated with multiple side effects. This article describes the ability of extracorporeal pho...

Extracorporeal photopheresis as second-line treatment for acute graft-versus-host disease: impact on six-month freedom from treatment failure.

Second-line therapy for corticosteroid-refractory or -dependent acute graft-versus-host disease remains ill-defined, due to limited efficacy of drugs and evolving clinical trial endpoints. Six-month freedom from treatment failure has been proposed as a novel clinical trial endpoint and is defined by the absence of death, malignancy relapse/progression, or addition of a next line of systemic imm...

Extracorporeal Photopheresis as a Treatment of Graft-versus-Host Disease, Autoimmune Disease and Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma