This study aimed to evaluate the outcome following myeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT) among patients older than 50 yr of age. A total of 215 patients with a median age of 57 yr underwent allogeneic hematopoietic SCT for early (41%) or advanced (59%) hematologic malignancies. After a median follow-up of 36 months a 10-yr survival estimate of 56 +/- 6% could be assessed for patients in early disease stages while patients with advanced diseases showed a significantly decreased survival probability of 31 +/- 5% (p < 0.0002). Transplant related mortality (TRM) at day 100 and 365 post-transplant was 13% and 30% for early but increased to 21% and 49% for advanced disease stages. As major determinants of TRM advanced disease stage (p < 0.0001) and occurrence of grades II-IV graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) (p < 0.0001) were identified. These results show that hematopoietic SCT following myeloablative conditioning is also applicable to elderly patients whereas disease stage and high-grade GVHD represent the essential prognostic factors for outcome.