title: Allogeneic stem-cell transplantation in patients with refractory acute leukemia: a long-term follow-up.
abstract: We examined retrospectively 44 patients with refractory acute leukemia (acute myeloid leukemia (AML)/acute lymphoblastic leukemia=25/19) who underwent allogeneic transplantation at our center between 11/1990 and 04/2004. The median leukemic blasts was 25% and age 28 years (range, 3-56). Twenty-one patients had untreated relapse, 13 failed reinduction, eight in partial remission and two aplastic. Conditioning was myeloablative using cyclophosphamide, busulfan, total-body irradiation and etoposide (Bu/Cy/VP, n=22; TBI/Cy/VP, n=17; others, n=5) followed by marrow or peripheral blood transplant (n=23/21) from unrelated or related donors (n=28/16). All patients had graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis with cyclosporin and methotrexate. One patient experienced late graft failure. Severe acute-GVHD and chronic-GVHD appeared in eight and 14 patients, respectively. Thirteen patients (30%) remain alive after a median of 25.3 months (range, 2.4-134.1); with 31 deaths, mostly from relapse (n=15) and infections (n=12). Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) at 5 years was 28 and 26%, respectively. OS and PFS were significantly better with blasts < or =20% and time to transplant < or =1 year while transplant-related mortality was less with the use of TBI. We conclude that patients with refractory leukemia can benefit from allogeneic BMT, especially with < or =20% marrow blast.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation, University-Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. oyekunleaa@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Oyekunle
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kröger
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zabelina
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ayuk
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schieder
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Renges
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fehse
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Waschke
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fehse
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kabisch
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Zander
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001752:Blast Crisis / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D002066:Busulfan / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019653:Myeloablative Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014916:Whole-Body Irradiation / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D019653:Myeloablative Agonists; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D002066:Busulfan