Adverse impact of bone marrow transplantation on quality of life in acute myeloid leukaemia patients: analysis of the UK Medical Research Council AML 10 Trial

• Published in: European journal of cancer (1990) Vol. 40; no. 7; pp. 971 - 978
• Main Authors: Watson, M, Buck, G, Wheatley, K, Homewood, J.R, Goldstone, A.H, Rees, J.K.H, Burnett, A.K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acute myeloid leukaemia; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Bone marrow transplantation; Bone Marrow Transplantation - adverse effects; Cognition Disorders - etiology; Cost of Illness; Fatigue - etiology; Female; Graft vs Host Disease - etiology; Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases; Humans; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute - therapy; Leukemias. Malignant lymphomas. Malignant reticulosis. Myelofibrosis; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; MRC AML10 trial; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Quality of Life; Surveys and Questionnaires; Transplantation, Homologous; Tumors; United Kingdom; Europe; Quality of Life; Bone marrow transplantation; Acute myeloid leukaemia; MRC AML10 trial; Human; Acute; Stem cell; Hematopoietic cell; Homograft; Malignant hemopathy; Pharmacology; Research; Council; Quality of life; Cancerology; Bone marrow; Clinical trial; Acute myelocytic leukemia
• DOI: 10.1016/S0959-8049(03)00628-2
• ISSN: 0959-8049

The increasing success of intensive consolidation chemotherapy (CCT) as an alternative to bone marrow transplant (BMT) in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) necessitates comparison of the impact on quality of life (QoL) of these two treatment modalities. Most QoL studies following BMT involve small patient numbers and provide ambivalent results. The present study examines QoL in a large number of patients 1 year from the end of treatment within the United Kingdom Medical Research Council (UK MRC) AML10 trial of BMT versus CCT. Allogeneic-BMT (Allo-BMT) was observed to have an adverse impact on most QoL dimensions compared with Autologous-BMT (A-BMT) and CCT. More patients receiving BMT had mouth dryness problems and worse sexual and social relationships, professional and leisure activities than CCT patients. QoL in A-BMT patients was less impacted than Allo-BMT. Intention-to-treat analysis showed similar results. These results indicate that a reconsideration of treatment strategies is warranted, and that further, good prospective studies are needed to evaluate more clearly the effects of these treatments in long-term survivors.