Bone marrow transplantation in acute leukemia

In Essen 142 bone marrow transplantations were carried out between December 1975 and February 1985. In 74 cases the indication was acute leukemia in relapse (n = 23) or in first or consecutive remission (n = 51). The conditioning regimen consisted of cyclophosphamide or the combination of cyclophosphamide and total body irradiation. All patients were treated under strict gnotobiotic care. To mitigate the risk of CMV infections, intravenous CMV-hyperimmune globulin and CMV-negative blood products have been applied routinely for 2 years. MTX was used as prophylaxis against GvHD. In the prognostically unfavorable group of acute leukemia in relapse, only one patient showed long-term survival. In this patient, leukemic relapse occurred 6 years after transplantation. The survival rate of AML patients grafted during the first remission is 55% (16/29) with a median observation time of 41 months. For patients grafted in first or consecutive remission of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the survival rate is 50% (7/14) with a maximal observation time of 34 months. The overall incidence of GvHD in patients at risk was 28% in aplastic anemia, 26% in AML, 9% in ALL, and 63% in CML. In aplastic anemia, no patient developed an interstitial pneumonia. In leukemia, the risk of fatal interstitial pneumonia was 34%.