HCT in Elderly Patients

The hematological malignancies, which are the most common indications for auto- and allo-HCT (e.g., AML/MDS, NHL, MM, and others), are diagnosed at a median age greater than 65 years. Thus, if classical chronological age exclusion criteria were followed, a majority of patients with these malignancies would not be offered a HCT, despite it being their treatment of choice and in many cases their only curative option (Snowden et al. 2022). While elderly patients are more likely to face toxic effects from HCT, this risk must be considered and balanced against the poor outcome of transplant candidates with these malignancies who do not proceed to HCT (Dohner et al. 2022).