The effect of melphalan dose and total body irradiation as reduced-intensity conditioning for acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation

To evaluate the prognostic impact of melphalan dose and total body irradiation (TBI) in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients undergoing reduced-intensity allogeneic transplantation, we retrospectively compared the outcomes between higher-dose melphalan (120–140 mg/m2) with (HDM/TBI+, n = 118) or without 2–4 Gy TBI (HDM/TBI−, n = 152) and lower-dose melphalan (80–110 mg/m2) with TBI (LDM/TBI+, n = 237). At 3 years, the overall survival was 49.6% in the HDM/TBI+, 51.7% in the HDM/TBI−, and 47.3% in the LDM/TBI + groups (p = .67). The relapse rate and non-relapse mortality were comparable among the three groups. Multivariate analysis revealed that conditioning regimen was not associated with overall survival, relapse, and non-relapse mortality; however, central nervous system complication was less frequent with LDM/TBI + than with HDM/TBI+. Our findings suggest reduced-intensity conditioning with LDM/TBI + might be a reasonable option, especially in vulnerable ALL patients, with similar transplant outcomes to HDM with or without TBI.