Therapy of acute phase chronic myelogenous leukemia with intensive chemotherapy, blood cell autotransplant and cyclosporine A

Therapy of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is unsatisfactory. The disease is characterized by two phases: a chronic phase lasting approximately 3 years and an acute phase lasting approximately 6 months. All patients with CML in chronic phase survive sufficiently long to progress to acute phase. The annual rate of transformation is approximately 25%. No therapy convincingly prolongs the duration of the chronic phase. Therapy of acute phase is unsatisfactory with clinical remission rates of 25%–30% and a median survival of approximately 6 months [1–3].