Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)

In the literature 63 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are reported who were treated with syngeneic or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. 62 patients were prepared for BMT with TBI containing regimens or Busulfan/Cyclophosphamide. GvHD prophylaxis was heterogenous. 33/63 patients are alive and well between 4 and 132 months after BMT. 23/63 patients died due to GvHD (n = 6), interstitial pneumonitis (n = 6), other infections (n = 4), toxicity of the preparative regimen (n = 5) or graft failure (n = 2). 9/63 patients relapsed between 2 and 98 (in median 6) months after BMT. There seems to be a correlation between the subtype of the MDS and the relapse rate: only 1/18 patients with RA/RARS relapsed compared to 7/42 patients with RAEB/RAEB-T. These results indicate that marrow transplantation can induce long term survival and may result in cure of patients with MDS.