Affiliation:
1. Peking University People's Hospital Peking University Institute of Hematology National Clinical Research Center for Hematologic Disease Beijing Key Laboratory of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Beijing China
2. Peking‐Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies Peking University Beijing China
Abstract
ABSTRACTIntroductionCentral nervous system leukemia (CNSL) remains a serious complication in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and an ambiguous prognostic factor for those receiving allo‐geneic hematopoiesis stem cell transplantation (allo‐HSCT). It is unknown whether using more sensitive tools, such as multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC), to detect blasts in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) would have an impact on outcome.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical outcomes of 1472 AML patients with or without cytology or MFC positivity in the CSF before transplantation. Abnormal CSF (CSF+) was detected via conventional cytology and MFC in 44 patients at any time after diagnosis. A control group of 175 CSF‐normal (CSF−) patients was generated via propensity score matching (PSM) analyses according to sex, age at transplant, and white blood cell count at diagnosis.ResultsCompared to those in the CSF‐negative group, the conventional cytology positive and MFC+ groups had comparable 8‐year nonrelapse mortality (NRM) (4%, 4%, and 6%, p = 0.82), higher cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) (14%, 31%, and 32%, p = 0.007), lower leukemia‐free survival (LFS) (79%, 63%, and 64%, p = 0.024), and overall survival (OS) (83%, 63%, and 68%, p = 0.021), with no significant differences between the conventional cytology positive and MFC+ groups. Furthermore, multivariate analysis confirmed that CSF involvement was an independent factor affecting OS and LFS.ConclusionOur results indicate that pretransplant CSF abnormalities are adverse factors independently affecting OS and LFS after allotransplantation in AML patients.