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Paediatric Leukemia

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in children with myelodysplastic syndrome or juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia: the Seattle experience

Summary:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in children with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). In total, 94 consecutive pediatric patients with MDS received an allogeneic BMT from 1976 to 2001 for refractory anemia (RA) (n=25), RA with ringed sideroblasts (RARS) (n=2), RA with excess blasts (RAEB) (n=20), RAEB in transformation (RAEB-T) (n=14), juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) (n=32) or chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) (n=1). The estimated 3-year probabilities of survival, event-free survival (EFS), nonrelapse mortality and relapse were 50, 41, 28 and 29%, respectively. Patients with RA/RARS had an estimated 3-year survival of 74% compared to 68% in those with RAEB and 33% in patients with JMML/CMML. In multivariable analysis, patients with RAEB-T or JMML were 3.9 and 3.7 times more likely to die compared to those with RA/RARS and RAEB (P=0.005 and 0.004, respectively). Patients with RAEB-T were 5.5 times more likely to relapse (P=0.01). The median follow-up among the 43 surviving patients is 10 years (range 1–25). We conclude that allogeneic BMT for children with MDS is well tolerated and can be curative.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Mr Chris Olson and Ms Meg Bender for their valuable assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. This study was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grants No. HL 36444, CA 15704, CA 18029, CA 18221 and CA 47748.

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Correspondence to J E Sanders.

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Yusuf, U., Frangoul, H., Gooley, T. et al. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in children with myelodysplastic syndrome or juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia: the Seattle experience. Bone Marrow Transplant 33, 805–814 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1704438

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