Autologous stem cell transplantation for therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome

We report the results of 65 patients with treatment-related myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)/acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) who were transplanted from an autograft and reported to the EBMT. The median age was 39 years (range, 3-69), and stem cell source was bone marrow (n = 31), or peripheral blood progenitor cells (n = 30), or the combination of both (n = 4). The primary disease was solid tumors (n = 37), Hodgkin's disease (n = 13), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (n = 10), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 2) or myeloproliferative syndromes (n = 3). The types of MDS were as follows: RAEB (n = 1; 2%), RAEB-t (n = 3; 5%), or AML (n = 56; 87%). The median time between diagnosis and transplantation was 5 months (range, 3-86). The Kaplan-Meier estimates of the probability of 3-year overall and disease-free survival were 35% (95% CI: 21-49%) and 32% (95% CI: 18-45%), respectively. The median leukocyte engraftment was faster after transplantation with peripheral blood stem cells than with bone marrow: 12 (range, 9-26) vs 29 (range, 11-67) days (P<0.001). The cumulative incidence of relapse was 58% (95% CI: 44-72%) and of treatment-related mortality 12% (95% CI: 6-38%). Lower relapse rate was seen in patients transplanted in first complete remission (CR1 vs non-CR1: 3 years: 48 vs 89%; P = 0.05). Furthermore, age beyond 40 years resulted in a higher treatment-related mortality (47 vs 7%; P = 0.01). In a multivariate analysis, transplantation in CR1 age as well as their interaction influenced overall survival significantly. Autologous transplantation may cure a substantial number of patients with treatment-related MDS/AML, especially if they are in CR1 and of younger age.