Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation - Blog Science Connections

Leukemia: First Remission
K A. Dicke and B. Lowenberg,
Chairmen
DR. K. A. DICKE: We would like to ask the audience if there are specific
questions for the various speakers, and then we would like to address a couple
of main issues. Now, are there any specific questions for Dr. Lowenberg?
DR. A. BURNETT: What is the survival curve of the patients treated with
autograft when you include the loss of patients between remission and time of
transplantation? It can't be much more than 35%.
DR. B. LOWENBERG: The loss before transplantation is indeed a very
important point. What I can say is that we compared the overall duration of
remission for all patients with a complete response, irrespective of what
happened afterwards. And, at this stage, there was no difference between any of
the modalities, most likely because of the short follow-up.
DR. V. RIZZOLI: Is there a difference in the outcome between the patients
whose marrow was harvested and transplanted early after achieving remission
and the group of patients whose transplants were later, after onset of remission?
DR. LOWENBERG: There is no difference.
DR. P. HERVE: Bob (Dr. Lowenberg), how do you explain that you have a
very long delay in obtaining platelet recovery?
DR. LOWENBERG: There is no definite answer to that. It seems to be
disease related, because we have seen several reports today, all reporting
delayed recoveries in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). It may also be due to
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