ABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2 has spread rapidly worldwide, but the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the field of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) remains unknown. To understand this better, an 18-item online survey was disseminated by the Worldwide Network for Blood & Marrow Transplantation with questions exploring SARS-CoV-2 testing algorithms, mobilization, and cryopreservation strategies and COVID-19 infections in allogeneic related and autologous hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) donors. The aim of this survey was to assess the impact of the outbreak on policies relating to HPC mobilization, collection, and processing with respect to changes in daily routine. A total of 91 individual responses from distinct centers in 6 continents were available for analysis. In these centers, the majority (72%) of allogeneic related and autologous donors are routinely tested for SARS-CoV-2 before HPC collection, and 80% of centers implement cryopreservation of allogeneic HPC grafts before commencing conditioning regimens in patients. Five related and 14 autologous donors who tested positive for COVID-19 did not experience any unexpected adverse events or reactions during growth factor administration (eg, hyperinflammatory syndrome). These data are limited by the small number of survey respondents but nonetheless suggest that centers are following the recommendations of appropriate scientific organizations and provide some preliminary data to suggest areas of further study.
Subject(s)
Bone Marrow Transplantation/statistics & numerical data , COVID-19/epidemiology , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/statistics & numerical data , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2 , Algorithms , Allografts , Bone Marrow Transplantation/trends , COVID-19/diagnosis , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19 Testing/methods , COVID-19 Testing/statistics & numerical data , Cryopreservation/methods , Donor Selection/standards , Global Health , Health Care Surveys , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization/statistics & numerical data , Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/trends , Practice Patterns, Physicians'/statistics & numerical data , Procedures and Techniques Utilization/statistics & numerical data , Tissue Preservation/methods , Transplantation, Autologous , Unrelated Donors/statistics & numerical dataABSTRACT
New York is at the epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Columbia University Irving Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (CUIMC/NYPH) had to make changes to its cellular therapy operations to ensure patient, donor, and staff safety and well-being. In this article, we discuss the process changes we instituted for cellular therapy clinical care, collection, processing, and cryopreservation to cope with the rapidly evolving pandemic.