Treatment-related mortality in 1000 consecutive patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy and peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation in community cancer centers.

High-dose chemotherapy (HDC) with autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) is being increasingly utilized as a therapeutic modality for patients with chemotherapy-sensitive disease. Several published HDC regimens have become relatively widely used. The purpose of this analysis was to determine treatment-related mortality (TRM) following administration of five different HDC regimens in community cancer centers. A retrospective evaluation of 1000 consecutive patients with leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, multiple myeloma, sarcoma, ovarian cancer, or breast cancer who received one of five published HDC regimens followed by PBPC infusion over a 5-year period in community cancer centers was performed to determine TRM. Fifty-nine patients (5.9%) died within 100 days of PBPC infusion. Twenty-five patients (2.5%) died predominantly of causes related to disease progression. Thirty-four patients (3.4%) died of TRM, 15 patients (1.5%) died from infection and 19 (1.9%) died from regimen-related toxicities (RRT). In a logistic model, increasing age (P = 0.001) and lower numbers of CD34+ cells/kg (P = 0.003) were associated with an increased risk of 100-day TRM. High-dose cyclophosphamide, thiotepa, and carboplatin was associated with a lower risk of mortality than other regimens (P = 0.0001). High-dose chemotherapy and autologous PBPC support can be performed in community cancer centers with relative safety. Patient age, the type of preparative regimen and the number of CD34+ cells infused were important determinates of mortality.