Early gastrointestinal complications of stem cell transplant - results of prospective study at IRCH, AIIMS, India.

Background The study was conducted with the purpose of finding clinical profile of early gastrointestinal complications of stem cell transplant at this center. Methods 70 consecutive subjects, who were subject to bone marrow transplant from October 2002 to September 2004, were prospectively studied. The gastrointestinal complications were followed in first 100 days of transplant and recorded in a pre-determined format. Results Study population comprised of 23 allo-transplant (with 3-non-myelablative procedures) and 47 auto-transplant subjects. Gastrointestinal complications included: nausea and vomiting in 19 (82.60%), mucositis- 20 (86.95%), diarrhea- 15 (65.21%), veno-occlusive disease (VOD) - 3 (13.04%) and acute pancreatitis- 1 (4.34%) in allo-transplant group. Nausea and vomiting occurred 36 (76.59%), mucositis- 46 (97.88%) diarrhea- 39 (82.98%), VOD- 5 (10.64%) in auto- transplant subjects. Acute graft versus host disease (AGVHD) involved gut in 3 and liver in 1 case of allo-BMT-group.