Autologous bone marrow transplantation in secondary acute monoblastic leukemia following Hodgkin's disease

Acute non lymphocytic leukemia (AnLL) is the most common second malignancy (SM) in survivors of childhood Hodgkin's Disease (HD). Chemotherapy responsiveness is usually poor and death ensues briefly after diagnosis. We report the case of a 13 year-old girl, affected by HD, stage IV, mixed cellularity, who developed AnLL one year after the HD treatment was stopped. Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation (ABMT) was performed 9 months after complete remission (CR) was achieved by chemotherapy. Presently, the patient is alive and on continues CR, 3 years and 7 months after ABMT. ABMT may be a promising approach for secondary AnLL, the prognosis of which is almost invariably fatal with conventional chemotherapy.