Use of peripheral blood stem cells for autologous transplantation in acute myeloid leukemia patients allows faster engraftment and equivalent disease-free survival compared with bone marrow cells

Abstract

We compared the feasibility and efficacy of autologous bone marrow (ABMT) and peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation (PBSCT) performed after an identical induction/consolidation in adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). From January 1993 to June 1996 91 consecutive AML patients were enrolled in a program consisting of anthracycline-based induction and high-dose cytarabine consolidation (NOVIA). Until May 1994 ABMT was performed; from June 1994, if PBSC collection was adequate, PBSCT was performed. Out of 88 evaluable patients, 73 obtained a complete remission (CR) and 15 were resistant. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation was performed in 16 patients. Forty-four (50%) were given autologous stem cell transplantation. ABMT was performed in 21 cases; twenty-nine patients were given G-CSF mobilization after NOVIA administration. An adequate number of PBSC was obtained in 23/29 (79%) cases, which were then re-infused. Median times to both neutrophil and platelet recovery from transplant were significantly shorter for the PBSC group (17 vs 36 days to 500 PMN/μl, P < 0.01; 20 vs 150 days to 20000 platelets/μl, P < 0.02; 37 vs 279 days to 50000 platelets/μl, P < 0.03), as were days of hospitalization after the reinfusion (18 vs 33, P < 0.03) and median days to transfusion independence. toxicity was not significant in either group. after a minimum follow-up for live patients of 24 months (longer than the mean time for relapse observed for the pbsc series – 14 months) the percentage of relapses was similar: 11 of 21 (52.4%) and 12 of 23 (52.1%) in the abmt and pbsc groups, respectively. our results indicate that autologous pbsc transplantation, performed after an intensive chemotherapy regimen, is not inferior to abmt in terms of disease-free survival and allows faster recovery times and reduced need for tranfusion support.