Twelve cases of malignant hematopathy treated by combined therapy of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and Chinese herbal medicine

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation combined with Chinese herbal medicine in treating malignant hematopathy. Allo-bone marrow transplantation (Allo-BMT) or alloperipheral blood stem cell transplantation (Allo-PBSCT), with conditioning regimen of TBI + Cy or Bu + Cy, was used to treat 4 cases of chronic granulocytic leukemia (CGL, 3 of chronic phase and 1 of acceleration phase) and one case of acute non-lymphocytic leukemia (ANLL). And auto-BMT or auto-PBSCT, with conditioning regimen of MAC or MAC + VP16, was used to treat 7 cases of hematopathy, including 5 cases of ANLL (3 of CR1 and 2 of CR2) and 2 cases of malignant lymphoma (1 of first occurring and 1 of relapse). Chinese herbal medicine was given orally to all the 12 patients after' transplantation according to TCM Syndrome Differentiation. All patients were successfully engrafted. Within the median follow-up period of 18 (4-70) months, one patient (8.3%) died of transplantation-related death, 3(25.0%) relapsed and 8 (66.7%) survived free of original disease. The transplantation effective rate was 88.8% as counting by ANLL CR1 and CGL chronic phase. Auto-BMT or auto-PBSCT in CR1 stage of acute leukemia could reduce the relapse rate, when there was no matched bone marrow donor; allo-BMT or allo-PBSCT in chronic stage could result in long-term disease-free survival of patients; Chinese herbal medicine administration in patients of malignant hematopathy might reduce the complications and plays certain role in promoting recovery of hematopoietic function.