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Trends in outcome of transplantation in patients with secondary acute myeloid leukemia: an analysis from the Acute Leukemia Working Party (ALWP) of the EBMT

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Abstract

Trends in outcome of transplantation (HSCT) in secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML) are limited. We evaluated results of HSCT in 4224 patients with sAML in complete remission; 1337 were transplanted in 2000–2010 and 2887 in 2011–2020. Median age was 54 (range, 18–74) and 59 (range, 18–78) years, respectively (p < 0.0001). Donors were MSD in 65% vs. 37%, 10/10 UD in 27% vs. 50%, and 9/10 UD in 8% vs. 13%, respectively (p < 0.0001). Conditioning was myeloablative in 46% and 38%, respectively. Two-year non-relapse mortality (NRM) was lower in patients transplanted in 2011–2020 vs. those transplanted in 2000–2010, 18% vs. 21% (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.68–0.9; p = 0.04) and modified GVHD-free, relapse-free survival (GRFS) (HR = 0.9, 95% CI: 0.81–0.99; p = 0.04) was better in patients transplanted in the 2011–2020 vs. those transplanted in 2000–2010. Two-year relapse incidence (RI) was similar between the 2 groups with 32% vs. 31%, (HR = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.9–1.22; p = 0.55). Likewise, leukemia-free survival (LFS) (HR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.84–1.07; p = 0.38) and overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.82–1.05; p = 0.26) were not significantly different between the two periods. In conclusion, Incidence of NRM has been significantly reduced and GRFS significantly increased in HSCT for sAML in the last 2 decades.

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Fig. 1: Results of unrelated transplantation in patients with secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML) comparing outcomes of two cohorts according to the year of transplant (2000–2010 and 2011–2019).

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AN, MN, ML, and MM had full access to all the data in the study (available upon data specific request).

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Acknowledgements

We thank all of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) centers and national registries for contributing patients to this study (Supplementary Appendix Material). We also thank the data managers for their excellent work and the patients who have contributed data.

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AN wrote the paper, designed the study, and interpreted the data. MN, ML, and MM designed the study, performed the statistical analyses, interpreted the data, and edited the paper. NK, GS, TGD, VP, TS, UP, AG, DB, US, TM, CC, HLW, IYA, and BS reviewed the paper and provided clinical data. All authors approved the final version of the paper.

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Correspondence to Arnon Nagler.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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The scientific boards of the ALWP of the EBMT approved this study.

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The original online version of this article was revised: In the original version of this article, the given and family names of Jacques-Emmanuel Galimard were incorrectly structured.

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Nagler, A., Ngoya, M., Galimard, JE. et al. Trends in outcome of transplantation in patients with secondary acute myeloid leukemia: an analysis from the Acute Leukemia Working Party (ALWP) of the EBMT. Bone Marrow Transplant 57, 1788–1796 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-022-01825-0

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