Behavioral Intervention For BMT/SCT Survivors

Overview

The purpose of this study is to understand how to help survivors of bone marrow transplant and stem cell transplant (BMT/SCT) with emotional distress. BMT/SCT has become a more common type of treatment for cancer or hematological disorder (blood disease). For this reason, there is concern that adjustment after treatment may be difficult for many persons. We have found that about 25% of BMT/SCT survivors still feel anxious and distressed about their illness and its treatment after at least one year following transplant. This study is one of the first to study the impact of counseling on BMT/SCT survivors. The study is being carried out at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and Hackensack University Medical Center.

The use of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation (BMT/SCT) in the treatment of cancer has increased five-fold over the last decade. Among the cancers treated with BMT/SCT are Hodgkin's Lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and leukemias such as acute lymphoblastic (ALL), acute myelogenous (AML), chronic lymphocytic (CLL), and chronic myelogenous (CML). With the development of non-myeloablative transplants (either "mini" or reduced intensity transplants) for patients unable to tolerate standard BMT/SCT, the use of this procedure is expected to increase substantially over the next five years. BMT/SCT adversely affects almost every aspect of the patient's life (1;2). A standard (fully ablative) transplant involves conditioning with dose intensive chemotherapy, with or without total body irradiation. Although various medical regimens and supportive psychosocial services are used to reduce the intensity of these side effects, symptoms may persist. Moreover, the drugs used to control side effects often have aversive side effects of their own. Thus, patients must tolerate a protracted course of treatment that is highly aversive and invasive at a time when their lives are disrupted and they are fearful about their survival. A common complaint among survivors is that such problems go unaddressed, and these types of adjustment problems appear to become most intense in the first year post treatment, when physical functioning has stabilized and contact with the BMT/SCT clinical care team wanes (5;10).