Reduced-intensity conditioning for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with fludarabine and melphalan is associated with durable disease control in myelodysplastic syndrome

Bone Marrow Transplant. 2007 Nov;40(9):843-50. doi: 10.1038/sj.bmt.1705801. Epub 2007 Aug 27.

Abstract

We retrospectively evaluated the outcome of reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) followed by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) in 43 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or AML arising from MDS. All patients received fludarabine plus melphalan followed by an allogeneic HCT from an HLA-identical sibling (SIB: n=19) or unrelated donor (MUD: n=24). Median age was 58 years (range: 30-71). Diagnoses at transplantation were RA (n=8), RARS (n=1), RAEB (n=13), RAEB-T (n=6), or AML arising from MDS (n=15). Of 28 patients with MDS, two patients had low, 10 had intermediate-1, nine had intermediate-2 and seven had high-risk MDS by IPSS criteria. All patients initially engrafted with the median neutrophil recovery of 15 days (range: 9-27). The 2-year overall survival, disease-free survival, relapse and transplant-related mortality were 53.5% (CI 45.2-61.1), 51.2% (CI 43.3-58.5), 16.3% (CI 7.9-30.7) and 35.2% (26.4-45.7), respectively. Grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease occurred in 27 (63%) patients. There was no significant survival difference between SIB and MUD-HCT, but the relapse rate was higher among SIB donor recipients when compared to MUD (38.5 versus 7%, P=0.02). RIC with fludarabine plus melphalan was associated with durable disease control and acceptable toxicity in this high-risk cohort.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Graft Survival
  • Graft vs Host Disease
  • Hematologic Diseases / therapy
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / adverse effects
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / methods*
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / mortality
  • Humans
  • Melphalan / therapeutic use*
  • Melphalan / toxicity
  • Middle Aged
  • Myelodysplastic Syndromes / complications
  • Myelodysplastic Syndromes / mortality
  • Myelodysplastic Syndromes / prevention & control
  • Myelodysplastic Syndromes / therapy*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Survival Analysis
  • Transplantation Conditioning / methods*
  • Transplantation, Homologous
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Vidarabine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Vidarabine / therapeutic use
  • Vidarabine / toxicity

Substances

  • Vidarabine
  • fludarabine
  • Melphalan