Providing both autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCT) may have a stronger impact on the outcome of autologous HSCT in adult patients than activity levels or implementation of JACIE at Belgian transplant centres

While performance since the introduction of the JACIE quality management system has been shown to be improved for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCT), impact on autologous-HSCT remains unclear in Europe. Our study on 2697 autologous-HSCT performed in adults in 17 Belgian centres (2007–2013) aims at comparing the adjusted 1 and 3-yr survival between the different centres & investigating the impact of 3 centre-related factors on performance (time between JACIE accreditation achievement by the centre and the considered transplant, centre activity volume and type of HSCT performed by centres: exclusively autologous vs both autologous & allogeneic). We showed a relatively homogeneous performance between Belgian centres before national completeness of JACIE implementation. The 3 centre-related factors had a significant impact on the 1-yr survival, while activity volume and type of HSCT impacted the 3-yr survival of autologous-HSCT patients in univariable analyses. Only activity volume (impact on 1-yr survival only) and type of HSCT (impact on 1 and 3-yr survivals) remained significant in multivariable analysis. This is explained by the strong relationship between these 3 variables. An extended transplantation experience, i.e., performing both auto & allo-HSCT, appears to be a newly informative quality indicator potentially conveying a multitude of underlying complex factors.