Comparison of two different conditioning regimens before autologous transplantation for children with high-risk neuroblastoma.

Maria Antonietta DE Ioris, Benedetta Contoli, Alessandro Jenkner, Maria Debora DE Pasquale, Annalisa Serra, Luigi DE Sio, Rosanna Pessolano, Maria Carmen Garganese, Alessandro Crocoli, Teresa Corneli, Renata Boldrini, Aurora Castellano

Index: Anticancer Res. 32(12) , 5527-33, (2012)

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Abstract

Although high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) represents the standard of treatment for high-risk neuroblastoma (NBL), the most effective conditioning regimen still remains to be identified.Forty-one high-risk NBL entered into local protocol based on induction chemotherapy, surgery and HDC with either etoposide/thiotepa/cyclophophamide (ETC) or i.v. busulfan and L-PAM (Bu/L-PAM).Thirty-seven patients underwent HDC; 29 with ETC and 8 with Bu/L-PAM. No toxic deaths were recorded. The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) of patients given ETC was 21% (95% confidence interval CI (9-36%), while PFS for patients given Bu/L-PAM was 88% (95% CI=39-98%) (p<0.05). In multivariate analysis, treatment with the ETC regimen predicted progression/recurrence with a hazard ratio (HR) of 16.8 (p<0.05), as well as MYCN amplification which had an HR of 4.4 (p<0.05).Although the number of studied cases is limited, our data suggest that in high-risk NBL the combination of Bu/L-PAM is superior to the ETC regimen.