[Bone marrow transplantation for relapsed, acute leukaemia (author's transl)]

Seventeen patients with relapsed, acute leukemia were grafted with bone marrow from HLA-identical siblings by the 'Munich Cooperative Group for Bone Marrow Transplantation' during the period from August 1975 to June 1980. The antileukemic and immunosuppressive conditioning treatment consisted of high doses of bischlorethyl nitrosourea, Cytosine-Arabinoside and Cyclophosphamide, as well as, total body irradiation of about 9 Gy (midline body dose) from dual 60Cobalt sources. Methotrexate was given to all patients for prophylaxis of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Nine patients received marrow that was treated with anti-T-cell globulin (ATCG) "in vitro".--Crossreacting antibodies against hemopoietic stem cells were removed by absorption. Two of 5 evaluable patients given untreated marrow developed chronic GvHD, while patients given ATCG-treated marrow did not show unequivocal symptoms of GvHD. Six patients are in complete remission one to 33 months following bone marrow transplantation (b.m.t.) Five patients died with relapses of leukemia between 3 1/2 and 24 months following b.m.t., 3 patients died with interstitial pneumonia within 3 months of b.m.t. and 3 patients died with insufficient graft function within 4 weeks of b.m.t. Four of thirteen patients that were grafted more than 6 months ago are presently alive and in continuous complete remission at 11, 14, 29 and 33 months following b.m.t. Our results confirm that longterm remissions can be obtained with b.m.t. in patients with acute leukemia in advanced stage.