Who should consider an ASCT?

Who should consider an autologous stem cell transplant? Almost everyone should consider an autologous stem cell transplant. We can do autologous stem cell transplants on older patients. Most myeloma patients that get diagnosed are in their 60s and 70s, and age is not a barrier. It's really how healthy you are and how fit you are. There is also choice. Some patients, when they hear about the procedure, they're very scared about side effects, what's going to happen. It is a very safe procedure with very minimal complications when done in experienced centers. So most people can get through it just fine. What are the fitness criteria to be transplant eligible? Fitness, really, there are a lot of medical criteria that go into that. It's what we call comorbidities. Go into how fit someone is. That includes other medical problems like high blood pressure, diabetes. Have they had strokes? Have they had other cancers? How well their heart is doing? If they're in severe heart failure, well, they may not be a good candidate because they may not be able to tolerate some of the side effects with the procedure. So we have certain rules on how much your heart has to pump before you could actually undergo the procedure. Also, we look at the lungs and the other internal organs like the liver to make sure there hasn't been significant damage from smoking or other causes, or someone who's been drinking heavily or had hepatitis virus that could damage the liver. So we look at all of these things, make a full assessment of the patient. And if all the organs are working reasonably well, we have criteria that we say, hey, this person could probably benefit from this procedure because it has been shown to prolong the period of remission. We offer it to them. As you fill out your Health Tree profile, you'll be asked questions about your current health and fitness status. As you answer these questions, Health Tree will help you know early on if you're eligible for transplant on the treatment options page.