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Acute Leukemia

Long-term follow-up of therapy-related myelodysplasia and AML patients treated with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 51, pages 771–777 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The outcome of patients with therapy-related myelodysplasia (t-MDS) or t-AML is very poor. The only curative treatment option implements allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (aHCT); however, long-term follow-up data beyond 5 years are scarce. Here we report on a cohort of 79 consecutive patients with a median age of 58 years (range (r): 20–76) at transplantation and a median follow-up of 7.5 years (r: 0.07–19.0). Only 19 (24.1%) patients were in CR before aHCT. Non-relapse mortality and relapse rates were 23% (95% confidence interval, 15–35%) and 42% (32–55%) at 5 years, and 32% (22–46%) and 44% (34–57%) at 10 years, respectively. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 35% (24–46%) and 38% (27–49%) at 5 years, and 24% (14–36%) and 24% (13–36%) at 10 years, respectively. Although cytogenetic aberrations were associated with shorter DFS and higher relapse risk, persistent disease at the time of transplantation, an unrelated donor and patient age were not associated with shorter OS. In conclusion, long-term survival beyond 10 years of t-MDS/t-AML patients after aHCT is possible, even for refractory patients. Therefore, early donor search and rapid transplantation are warranted, also to decrease the risk of disease-related deterioration of patients’ performance status.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge E Lenartz for coordinating donor search, I Matt for data management and N Claus, S Enger and I Huber for technical assistance in the BMT laboratory. Moreover, we thank M Bentz, T Fietz, TS Fischer, A Jakob, J Mezger and W Brugger for patient referrals. Finally, we thank the nurses and fellows of the Löhr ward for their everyday dedication in treating our patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology/Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany

    J Finke, H Bertz, R Marks, R Wäsch, R Zeiser & B Hackanson

  2. Center for Clinical Trials and Biostatistics, University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany

    C Schmoor

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  1. J Finke
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  2. C Schmoor
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  3. H Bertz
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  4. R Marks
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  5. R Wäsch
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  6. R Zeiser
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  7. B Hackanson
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Correspondence to J Finke.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest. JF received research grants and speakers honoraries from Medac, Noevii Biotech, Novartis and Riemser.

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Finke, J., Schmoor, C., Bertz, H. et al. Long-term follow-up of therapy-related myelodysplasia and AML patients treated with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 51, 771–777 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2015.338

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