Evaluation of the impact of allogenic transplant in first remission on an unselected population of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia aged 15-55 years. The Northern Regional Haematology Group.

The aim of this study was to collect prospectively unselected, population-based data on young adults with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) over a 9-year period and to evaluate the impact on survival of the introduction of allogeneic transplantation performed in first remission. The population within the Northern Region of England is 3.09 million. During the study period a total of 149 de novo patients between 15 and 55 years old presented. The incidence of AML was 0.79 per 10(5) (age-specific population) in the 15-24-year-old group, 0.85 per 10(5) in the group 25-39 years old and 1.35 per 10(5) in the 40-55-year-old group. Remission induction success varied with age (74% for patients < 40 years and 58% for patients 40-55 years). In the 15-40 year old group 28 patients had an HLA-matched donor, 22 patients had a transplant (one syngeneic) and 24 patients in the 15-40-year-old group in remission at 6 months did not have a transplant. The allogeneic group < 40 years old had an event-free survival (EFS) at 4 years of 62%, whereas patients of the same age who received chemotherapy alone had an EFS at 4 years of 24%. A small heterogeneous group of 14 patients who had intensification with autotransplant are not included in this analysis. The population study approach demonstrates the difficulties of introducing uniform treatment strategy in this disease group. The study confirms the view that allogeneic transplant in first remission in the 15-40-year-old group is the treatment of choice. Unfortunately the overall impact of transplant on the population is not great since only 22 of 149 patients (14%) were able to receive an allograft in first remission.