Objective
Reasons for patients' acceptance of the allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo‐HSCT) proposed and how their decision may be affected by the long distances involved have ...not been sufficiently investigated so far. We therefore conducted a qualitative study to identify the factors involved in overseas patients' decision to accept allo‐HSCT.
Methods
In‐depth semi‐directive interviews were conducted with overseas allo‐grafted patients (n = 22), as well as one non‐consenting patient and their caregivers (n = 24). Interviews were analyzed taking an inductive thematic approach.
Results
Respondents stated that their decision to undergo the transplantation was constrained by their feeling of being in a therapeutic impasse, the need for a survival strategy, the need to survive for their family's sake, family and doctors' pressures, and the feeling of being managed. The following factors favoring patients' acceptance were the medical information received, their faith, having a family donor, peer testimonies, and positive representations of the transplantation. Factors against patients' acceptance were geographical distance from home to the transplant center, apprehension of protective isolation, fear of dying, and representations of the graft.
Conclusions
These factors, such as patient's personal values and representations, need to be weighed up in order to adapt the information exchanged accordingly. Efforts are required to relieve patients' social isolation and improve the means of providing family support.
This article focuses on the lived experience of patients with haematological cancer who were transferred from La Réunion (a French overseas Department) to mainland France to undergo allogeneic ...haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Based on a qualitative study conducted between February 2020 and January 2021 with allo-HSCT recipients, their family caregivers and healthcare professionals, we examined the social, economic and cultural factors shaping the patients' complex experience. We have called this kind of State-sponsored intra-national medical transfer “overseas therapeutic mobility”. The patients' experience of this therapeutic journey beyond their geographical and cultural frontiers has some similarities with transnational therapeutic mobility. Overseas therapeutic mobility to undergo highly technical treatment requires considerable logistic efforts and mobility skills. The remoteness of their families and their affective and cultural environment give mobile patients a feeling of disorientation and causes them much social suffering. The two-fold condition of being a sick person with a possibly lethal disease and being treated overseas can be regarded as a double ordeal. In addition, the unfunded costs place a heavy burden on the patients and those whose families have limited resources. This study points to the cleavages which occur between post-colonial overseas regions and mainland France, and the territorial inequalities existing in patients’ access to specialized treatment due to French policies of healthcare centralization.
•The article defines overseas therapeutic mobility.•Explores medical travel for cancer patients inhabiting La Réunion to mainland France.•Offers insight into geographical inequalities due to centralized healthcare politics.•Emphasizes the risk of impoverishment on patients and their families.•Stresses mobility skills and spatial capital.
The number of HLA-haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplants continues to increase worldwide due to recent improvements in outcomes, allowing more patients with hematological malignancies and ...non-malignant disorders to benefit from this procedure and have a chance to cure their disease. Despite these encouraging results, questions remain as multiple donors are usually available for transplantation, and choosing the best HLA-haploidentical donor for transplantation remains a challenge. Several approaches to haploidentical transplantation have been developed over time and, based on the graft received, can be grouped as follows: T-cell depleted haploidentical transplants, either complete or partial, or with T-cell replete grafts, performed with post-transplant cyclophosphamide-based graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis, or G-CSF-primed bone marrow graft and enhanced GVHD prophylaxis. Carefully selecting the donor can help optimize transplant outcomes for recipients of haploidentical donor transplants. Variables usually considered in the donor selection include presence of donor-specific antibodies in the recipient, donor age, donor/recipient gender and ABO combinations, and immunogenic variables, such as natural killer cell alloreactivity or KIR haplotype. Here we provide a comprehensive review of available evidence for selecting haploidentical donors for transplantation, and summarize the recommendations from the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) on donor selection for different transplant platforms.
Donor lymphocyte infusion has been used in the management of relapsed hematologic malignancies after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. It can eradicate minimal residual disease or be ...used to rescue a hematologic relapse, being able to induce durable remissions in a subset of patients. With the increased use of haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplantation, there is renewed interest in the use of donor lymphocytes to either treat or prevent disease relapse post transplant. Published retrospective and small prospective studies have shown encouraging results with therapeutic donor lymphocyte infusion in different haploidentical transplantation platforms. In this consensus paper, finalized on behalf of the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, we summarize the available evidence on the use of donor lymphocyte infusion from haploidentical donor, and provide recommendations on its therapeutic, pre-emptive and prophylactic use in clinical practice.
This study is a first step towards the transfer of knowledge and practices between psychological support and performance in elite sport and a patient's "social recovery" in oncology. This proposal ...brings together people engaged in a variety of healthcare and relationship support roles, and aims to set up a support system beyond the hospital context. It questions the ability of elite sport management and its main actors, the "Great Coaches", to contribute to the support of patients in cancer remission through an onco-coaching approach. This innovative proposal is initiated by a life coaching pilot study designed for hematologic cancer patients in remission after a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
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