Pulmonary an Critical Care Considerations of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Description:

This book serves as a guide to the pulmonary and critical care complications  of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). HSCT is an important therapeutic modality for a variety of malignant and non-malignant conditions. The outcomes of these patients have been improving and the number of HSCT cases is increasing around the world. These patients, however, continue to have post-transplant complications related to conditioning regimens and graft vs. host disease. Pulmonary complications following HSCT remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality in this patient population.

The book begins with an overview of HSCT and graft vs. host disease. Chapters then cover particular complications, including immunological changes in lungs, diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, bronchiolitis obliterans and pulmonary fibrosis. Other complications, including neurologic, renal, gastrointestinal, and cardiac, are covered. Chapters are comprehensive and consistent with each defining the scope of the complication, epidemiology, risk factors, diagnostic approach, management, outcome and predictors of outcome, and future directions. The book provides insight as well on matters that arise during the care of HSCT patients such as provider burnout, nursing care, intensive care unit organization, nutritional support, and pulmonary and physical rehabilitation.

This is an ideal guide for pulmonologists, critical care physicians, transplant specialists, oncologists, and relevant trainees caring for patients who have undergone HSCT.

Preface

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is an important treatment that is increasingly offered around the world for a variety of malignant and nonmalignant conditions. The survival of HSCT recipients has been steadily improving because of advances in conditioning regimens, supportive measures, and management of complications. However, HSCT recipients continue to have issues related to pancytopenia, side effects of conditioning regimens, and GVHD and its management. These complications range from infectious to noninfectious and affect almost every organ, occasionally leading to critical illness requiring admission to the intensive care unit.

This book focuses on the spectrum of pulmonary conditions that may develop following HSCT. These conditions continue to be a major cause of mortality and morbidity in this patient population and range from infectious—including bacterial, fungal, and viral—to noninfectious—such as diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, idiopathic pneumonia syndrome, interstitial lung disease, and bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome. The chapters also provide an overview of the major complications associated with other organs that may lead to critical illness including cardiac, neurologic, gastrointestinal, and renal complications. Experts from around the world discuss risk factors, clinical presentations, and advances in the diagnosis and management of these conditions.

This book is unique in several ways. It is the first work that is solely devoted to the topic of pulmonary and critical care complications of HSCT. While there are a limited number of works that address pulmonary and critical care issues following HSCT as part of the global discussion about transplant, there is no comprehensive textbook that provides such an in-depth, state-of-the-art presentation of the significant complications in this patient population. The authors represent a panel of international experts in this field who were able to successfully bridge the scientific basis of the conditions that lead to pulmonary and critical illness in HSCT recipients with the clinical knowledge necessary to provide the best care for this unique group of patients, both in the clinic and the intensive care unit. The chapters are written in a way that benefits all clinicians involved in the care of these patients including pulmonologists, intensivists, oncologists, and transplant specialists. It also informs specialists who are commonly involved in the management of HSCT recipients such as those in the fields of infectious disease, neurology, gastrointestinal, and nephrology. It provides insight on matters that arise during the care of patients such as provider burnout, nursing care, intensive care unit organization, nutritional support, and pulmonary and physical rehabilitation. Researchers, students, trainees, and allied healthcare providers involved in the care of HSCT recipients will find comprehensive information about this patient population as well.

I am grateful for the willingness of these experts to share their experience and knowledge in this field. I also would like to thank Ms. Anila Vijayan and Margaret Moore with the Springer Publishing Group for their support throughout the process.