Bone marrow transplantation for malignant histiocytosis in childhood

• Published in: Cancer 1985-12, Vol.56 (12), p.2786-2788
• Main Authors: Vowels, Marcus R., Lam‐Po‐Tang, Reg, Mameghan, Hedy, Heller, Edgar, Ford, David, Ziegler, John, Hughes, Darcy O'gorman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Bone Marrow Transplantation; Child, Preschool; Combined Modality Therapy; Female; Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases; Humans; Leukemias. Malignant lymphomas. Malignant reticulosis. Myelofibrosis; Lymphatic Diseases - drug therapy; Lymphatic Diseases - therapy; Medical sciences; Meningeal Neoplasms - therapy; Whole-Body Irradiation
• ISSN: 0008-543X; 1097-0142
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19851215)56:12<2786::AID-CNCR2820561212>3.0.CO;2-E

This report describes a girl who was diagnosed with malignant histiocytosis at the age of 5 years. The disease was controlled initially with chemotherapy for 3 years and had then recurred with meningeal involvement on three occasions. Four years and 8 months from diagnosis, bone marrow transplantation (BMT) was undertaken from an HLA‐identical and mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) nonreactive brother after conditioning with VP‐16‐213 5 mg/kg/day × 2, cyclophosphamide 60 mg/kg/day × 2, and total body irradiation 200 rad twice daily to a total dose of 1000 rad delivered at 7 rad/minute. At the time of transplant, the disease was in remission. Currently, more than 48 months after the transplant, the child remains free of disease, with a normally functioning donor marrow and with no evidence of graft versus host disease. This is the first recorded case of BMT in the treatment of malignant histiocytosis. The outcome in this patient in late‐stage disease suggests that BMT could be considered early in management as definitive therapy.