Efficacy of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for acute leukemia

  The superiority of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation over common chemotherapy is well demonstrated in acute leukemia, where this therapy leads to a significant increase in disease-free survival in patients with acute leukemia. According to the bulk case analysis of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and IBMTR, the 3-year disease-free survival rate of AML patients who received ALLo-BMT in first remission was about 50%, while the 3-year disease-free survival rate of concurrent chemotherapy patients was only 18-27%. Brotint et al. compared the results of first remission and second remission BMT in AL patients and found that the 5-year relapse rate was 21%±11% and the 5-year disease-free survival rate was 46%±9% after first remission BMT; the 5-year relapse rate and survival rate were 56% and 22% after second remission BMT. Similar results were found in the IBMTR and Seattle data. Therefore, it is advisable to perform BMT in patients with acute leukemia in first complete remission. 2. Nature of the disease itself: The relationship between BMT efficacy and staging is not clear. It seems that the efficacy of AML is better than that of ALL. For patients with ALL, the following indicators can be considered as high-risk factors: (1) age <2 years or >15 years, peripheral blood leukocytes >50×109/L at first diagnosis; (2) having central nervous system leukemia; (3) T-cell type or ALL with specific cytogenetic alterations; (4) For AML patients, leukocyte count >75×109/L at initial diagnosis, or for M4, M5 patients, the prognosis is poor.  (3) Patient’s age and general condition: the older the patient is, the worse the organ function is, and the greater the possibility of various comorbidities, especially GVHD, after BMT. Therefore, it is prudent to perform allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in patients over 45 years of age, and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is generally not performed in patients over 50 years of age.