[nadia33]

advantage in doing sct early vs. wait and watch

by nadia33 on Wed May 25, 2011 8:32 pm

Hi all
I am getting mixed feelings regarding staying on drugs as long as possible and going into transplant when drugs don't work well anymore vs. Doing transplant early. Which has shown to be more effective long term? If given melphan early, does ur system get used to it and unlikely to respond in case of relapse? If u do the transplant early, what r ur options in case if relapse?
Thank u

[Dr. David Siegel]

Re: advantage in doing sct early vs. wait and watch

by Dr. David Siegel on Thu May 26, 2011 4:49 pm

To me it is a no brainer. If you are going to do a transplant, there is no reason not to do it as part of initial therapy. I understand arguments that transplants are no longer useful (I dont agree with those arguments, but at least I understand them), but I do not understand the logic of delay. The whole point of the transplant is to enjoy the nice remmision afterwards. The later in the course of disease the shorter will be the remission. Delay just doesnt make much sense to me.

All of the options available before a transplant (including a transplant) are still available after a transplant.