Influence of Obesity on the Efficacy and Toxicity of Patients Undergoing Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Lymphoma.

Hematopoietic cell transplantation requires higher doses of chemotherapy, and practices of adjusting the weight because of concerns of organ toxicity are common. This retrospective analysis of 239 adult recipients of autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation for lymphoma assessed the effect of obesity on transplantation outcomes.

Background: Prior data evaluating the impact of obesity in autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) for lymphomas have provided differing results when assessing overall (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Impact on survival outcomes have been described, but direct comparison of discrete toxicities is lacking.

Patients and methods: We retrospectively compared outcomes with patients divided between 3 groups: nonobese patients (n = 129), obese patients dosed on adjusted body weight (AdjBW) (n = 32), and obese patients dosed on total body weight (TBW) (n = 78).

Results: In multivariate analysis of OS with the nonobese group as the comparator, outcomes trended worse in obese patients dosed on AdjBW (HR 1.22, 95% CI 0.52-2.85) but were improved in obese patients dosed on TBW (HR 0.19, 95% CI 0.04-0.85, P = .012). PFS of obese patients dosed on AdjBW vs. the nonobese group was comparable (HR 1.19, 95% CI 0.63-2.24), but improved in obese patients dosed on TBW (HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.23-0.89, P = .021). Notably, no differences were noted between groups in gastrointestinal, infectious, renal, or hepatic toxicities.

Conclusion: In summary, our data suggest that recipients of AHCT for lymphoma should be dosed on TBW to maximize curative outcomes with no apparent increase in toxicities.