Autologous bone marrow transplantation with 4‐hydroperoxycyclophosphamide purging for acute myeloid leukaemia beyond first remission: a 10‐year experience

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Between January 1987 and January 1997, 69 eligible patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in either second (CR2) or third (CR3) complete remission (CR2 = 60, CR3 = 9) underwent 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide-purged autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center. The patients' median age was 27 years (range 1-62) and all received busulphan and cyclophosphamide as their preparative regimen. The probability of event-free survival (EFS) at 5 years was 30% [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 19-42%] for CR2 patients and 22% (3-51%) for those in CR3, with a median follow up of 8 years in the surviving group. The median time to an absolute neutrophil count of 0.5 x 109/l was 45 d (range 20-185). Relapse was the major cause of failure with a relapse rate of 55% in CR2 and 44% in CR3, while the non-relapse, transplant-related mortality rate was 15% in CR2 and 33% in CR3. In univariate analysis, patient age, cytogenetics, white blood cell count at presentation, CR1 duration and the sensitivity of clonogeneic leukaemia (CFU-L) in the graft to 4HC were all prognostic for EFS. Using each of these significant variables in multivariate modelling, patient age and sensitivity of CFU-L to 4HC were determined to be predictors of EFS. 4HC-purged autologous BMT produced results similar to allogeneic BMT for AML patients beyond first remission.