title: Quantifying the survival benefit for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in relapsed acute myelogenous leukemia.
abstract: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the recommended therapy for patients with relapsed acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), despite little evidence showing a survival benefit in patients who undergo HSCT versus chemotherapy alone. Because a prospective randomized trial addressing this issue is unlikely, we retrospectively reviewed all patients receiving initial salvage therapy for AML at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center between 1995 and 2004, focusing on patients undergoing HSCT or chemotherapy without HSCT as second salvage after first salvage failed to produce complete remission (CR) (group A) and patients in first salvage-induced CR (group B). Median survival was 5.1 months for HSCT (n=84) versus 2.3 months for chemotherapy (n = 200; P = .004) in group A and 11.7 months for HSCT (n = 46) versus 5.6 months for chemotherapy (n = 66; P < . 001) in group B. HSCT was associated with a survival benefit in each of 8 subgroups defined by age < or > or = 50, high-risk cytogenetics or not, and treatment in first salvage-induced CR or second salvage, and also in 5 of 6 subgroups defined by age < or > or = 50 years and duration of first CR (CR1) (primary refractory, CR1 < or = 36 weeks, CR1 > 36 weeks). Our data suggest that HSCT is preferable to chemotherapy alone in these patients with poor prognoses, with particular benefits noted in patients under age 50 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston Texas, USA. paul_armistead@med.unc.edu
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Armistead
authors.forename: Marcos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Lima
authors.forename: Sherry
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pierce
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Xuemei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Thall
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giralt
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ravandi
authors.forename: Hagop
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kantarjian
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Champlin
authors.forename: Elihu
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Estey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016879:Salvage Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014916:Whole-Body Irradiation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D003561:Cytarabine