Intensive chemotherapy with or without additional bone marrow transplantation in paediatric AML: progress report on the MRC AML 10 trial. Medical Research Council Working Party on Childhood Leukaemia.
Stevens RF., Hann IM., Wheatley K., Gray R.
The Medical Research Council's AML 10 Children Trial commenced in 1988. It is a multicentre collaborative study based on 4 courses of intensive chemotherapy with additional allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for children with a matched sibling donor. The remaining children are randomised either to an autologous transplant using unpurged marrow or stopping therapy. To date 156 eligible patients have been entered with a CR rate of 91%. 56% of children are still alive 2 years after trial entry and 57% are in CR 3 years after achieving CR. The treatment regimen is intensive but mortality and morbidity are acceptable. The study will need to accrue patients for a further 2 to 3 years in the hope of defining the role of allogeneic and autologous marrow transplantation.