Immunotherapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia: survival not affected by treatment in the stable phase

Thirty-one consecutive patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia were treated in the chronic phase with immunotherapy in addition to chemotherapy. Immunotherapy consisted of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin and allogeneic myeloblasts given by vaccination, and chemotherapy comprised busulfan p.o. in most patients. No randomly allocated control group was designated, but patient characteristics appear to be typical of those of other published groups. Twenty-eight of 31 patients were followed from diagnosis to death, and the three remaining patients were followed for over 5 years. The median survival of the patients in our group was 37 months. There was a constant rate of decline in survival with time, with a mean annual death rate of 30% per year. Twenty-five of the 31 patients terminated in blast crisis. One of 21 patients achieved complete remission in blast crisis of myeloid or indeterminate type, and three of four patients achieved complete remission for blast crisis of lymphoid type. The median survival, the rate of decline in survival, and the remission rate in blast crisis do not appear to differ from those of comparable groups of patients treated with chemotherapy alone.