Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation as a therapeutic modality for hematological disorders: a report based on 39 cases.

The outcomes of 39 patients with hematological disorders who had undergone allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from September 1986 to March 1992 were reported. The length of follow-up was six to 50 months. Twenty patients with acute leukemia, eight patients with aplastic anemia, seven patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia, two patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and two patients with myelodysplastic syndrome were included. Major complications were acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (17 cases out of 36 evaluable cases; 47 percent), chronic GVHD (13/25; 52 percent), sepsis (20/41; 49 percent), interstitial pneumonitis (IP) (10/30; 33 percent), and veno-occlusive disease (VOD) of the liver (5/41; 12 percent). Acute and chronic GVHD were well managed with cyclosporin, methotrexate, and steroids. VOD of the liver seemed to be associated with the pretransplant regimen including busulfan and cyclophosphamide. The overall probability of disease free survival of 39 patients who had undergone allogeneic BMT was 0.56. This includes nine high risk cases such as HLA antigen mismatch between the donor and the recipient, and as in the second or subsequent remission or in relapsed cases. The probability of disease free survival in patients with acute leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, and aplastic anemia including high risk cases was 0.55 (n = 20), 0.71 (n = 7), and 0.50 (n = 8) respectively. These results indicate that allogeneic BMT is the major therapeutic strategy for patients whose survival could not be expected by conventional chemotherapy and that drug intensification for conditioning regimen is also important.