Prognostic factors in patients with Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Between 1984 and 1998, 76 patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia were treated with allogeneic bone marrow transplant. Allogeneic bone marrow transplant from sibling donors was performed on 26 (34%) patients in first complete remission and in 35 (46%) patients beyond first complete remission. Partially-matched related or matched unrelated donors tranplants were performed on 15 (20%) patients at various stages. The three-year probabilities of relapse, disease free survival, and overall survival for all patients were 31%, 39%, and 39%, respectively. Multivariate Cox-regression and Kaplan Meier methods were used to demonstrate a significant difference in outcomes depending on sibling versus matched related/unrelated donor, bcr-abl fusion transcript, graft-versus-host disease, patient-donor gender matched/mismatched and stage at transplant. Variations in other variables such as treatment are also discussed.