Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for vasculitis including Behçet's disease and polychondritis: a retrospective analysis of patients recorded in the European Bone Marrow Transplantation and European League Against Rheumatism databases and a review of the literature

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in vasculitis. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of patients who had received HSCT for vasculitic diseases and have been reported to the European League Against Rheumatism autoimmune disease or European Bone Marrow Transplantation ProMISe databases. Information about the disease and outcome was obtained by a questionnaire sent to the referring centres. Response of the disease to HSCT was defined as partial or complete responses according to the ability to reduce immunosuppression after HSCT. In addition, the Medline database was searched for reports on HSCT in patients with vasculitis. Results:…