Long-term leukemia-free survival after allogeneic marrow transplantation in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia

Between February 1982 and April 1995, 62 patients (37 male, 25 female) with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) with a median age of 32 years (19–51 years) received allogeneic marrow grafts from an HLA-identical sibling ( n=60) or an HLA-mismatched family member ( n=2). At the time of transplant, 35 patients were in first complete remission (CR), five in second CR, eight were primary refractory, eight were in untreated relapse and six in refractory relapse. The FAB subtypes were as follows: M1 ( n=17), M2 ( n=13), M3 ( n=6), M4 ( n=19), M5 ( n=6), M6 ( n=1). For conditioning most patients were given total body irradiation combined with cyclophosphamide (CY, n=50) or CY and busulfan ( n=9). For graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis patients received cyclosporin A (CSA) and methotrexate (MTX) ( n=32), MTX alone ( n=12), CSA and methylprednisone ( n=5), or CSA alone ( n=13). As of April 1995, probability of leukemia-free survival projected at 10 years after BMT was 60% for patients transplanted in first CR compared with 10% for patients transplanted beyond first CR. Transplant-related mortality was 11% after BMT in first CR and 39% after BMT beyond first CR. Probability of relapse projected at 10 years after BMT is 32% for patients who received transplants in first CR and 81% for patients who received transplants beyond first CR. Thus, high-dose chemo/radiotherapy followed by allogeneic marrow infusion has a high curative potential for patients with AML who receive transplants in first CR and offers the chance of long-term disease-free survival for some patients with advanced disease.