28.02.2013 Views

autologous blood and marrow transplantation - Blog Science ...

autologous blood and marrow transplantation - Blog Science ...

autologous blood and marrow transplantation - Blog Science ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

614 Chapter 11: Minitransplants<br />

100 200 300 400<br />

DAYS<br />

Figure 1<br />

500 600 700 800<br />

CR<br />

No CR<br />

one of the two patients in remission remained 100% donor by molecular techniques<br />

<strong>and</strong> the other patient was inevaluable (syngeneic).<br />

The median survival for patients achieving CR was 211 days, with three patients<br />

remaining alive at 5, 22, <strong>and</strong> 23 months after transplant. Nine patients have<br />

relapsed, of whom two were successfully reinduced, one with a second<br />

minitransplant <strong>and</strong> the other with a conventional syngeneic transplant using<br />

busulfan/cyclophosphamide conditioning. The median survival of the<br />

nonresponding patients was 61 days, with none of them responding to subsequent<br />

salvage maneuvers (Fig. 1).<br />

This initial experience permitted us to conclude that donor cell engraftment <strong>and</strong><br />

remissions can be achieved in patients with advanced AML using purine<br />

analog-containing nonmyeloablative chemotherapy followed by allogeneic<br />

peripheral <strong>blood</strong> stem cells. However, refractory patients relapse quickly, <strong>and</strong> this<br />

strategy should be further explored in patients in remission ineligible for conventional<br />

transplant techniques because of either age or medical condition.<br />

Among the nine patients with CML, one patient died from acute GVHD on day<br />

43, <strong>and</strong> no other treatment related deaths have occurred. All patients had<br />

hematologic recovery of both neutrophils <strong>and</strong> platelets a median of 13 days postinfusion,<br />

but two patients failed to have any evidence of donor cell engraftment (both<br />

were recipients of matched unrelated donor cells). Bone <strong>marrow</strong> on day 30<br />

revealed complete cytogenetic remission in five patients <strong>and</strong> major cytogenetic<br />

response in another three, with one patient having insufficient metaphases. Five of

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!