[Indication and results of bone marrow transplantation in acute leukemia]

The indication and results of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for acute leukemia were discussed focusing on data obtained by the BMT study group of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japan. With regard to the indication of BMT, the following factors were selected as significantly favorable: young age, in remission, no infection, complete HLA-matched marrow donor, no previous radiation treatment of the brain or lung, fractionated TBI, low dose rate, platelet transfusion from anti-CMV antibody-negative donor. Recently, the incidence of such favorable patients has increased in BMT, reflecting the improvement of results with this procedure. The long-term survival rates were 75% for ALL and 50% for ANLL when BMT was performed during the patients' first remission. These data reveal the merit of BMT as a treatment with a high rate of complete cure.