Results of two different conditioning regimens followed by ABMT in refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

: Thirty-one patients affected by advanced ALL entered this study. Twenty (1 in I CR, 9 in II CR, 6 in III CR and 4 extramedullary relapses) were treated with the BMVC conditioning regimen. Eleven (9 in II CR, 2 in III CR) received the Busulfan plus Cytoxan conditioning regimen. Asta-Z 7654-purged marrow was reinfused at day 0. Both protocols were well tolerated. Two patients treated with the BMVC regimen died in aplasia from sepsis; 1 patient died in CR 5 months after transplantation, 13 relapsed after a median time of 4 months (range 1-31). Four patients are in CCR with a median follow-up of 16 months (range 11-24). In the BU + CY treated group no toxic deaths were observed. Four patients relapsed after a median of 3 months (range 2-7) and 7 are in CCR with a median follow-up of 5 months (range 2-28).