Bone marrow transplantation in leukemia.

Abstract

Marrow grafting is now an established treatment for patients under the age of 50 with acute leukemia and a suitable marrow donor. For all patients who have relapsed at least once, marrow grafting offers the possibility of cure of approximately 20%-30% of these patients, which cannot be achieved by any other regimen yet reported. Although still somewhat controversial, it appears that marrow grafting is also the treatment of choice for younger patients with ANL in first remission since approximately 50%-60% of these patients can be cured. The problems associated with marrow grafting are largely those of failure to eradicate the malignant disease and of transplantation immunobiology. Progess is being made on solving these problems, and the ever-increasing number of marrow transplant centers involved in the study of these problems promises rapid progress in this field.