Early Infection After Allogeneic Transplant Increases Nrm Without Influencing Relapse Rate

Intro: Relapse post allogeneic transplant is the leading cause of early mortality in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Known risk factors of relapse include persistent disease at the time of transplant, use of anti-thymocyte globulin, reduced intensity conditioning, and absence of chronic graft versus host disease (GVHD). Early infection has been reported to increase non-relapse mortality (NRM) while protecting against hematologic disease relapse (Auletta et al., Blood 2016). We sought to determine the influence of patient features and post-transplant early infection (bacterial, fungal, and viral) on acute GVHD, relapse, and mortality.