BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT?
This is a dangerous form of treatment and some patients die because of treatment complications. The risks are greater in older patients and in patients with more advanced disease. In the good-risk groups, the treatment-related mortality during the first year after transplantation in the best centers is between 10% and 15%. This is about the same as mortality in newly diagnosed patients treated with hydrea. The results are worse in patients with more advanced disease and in centers with less experience. Another problem is that not all patients are cured. During the first five years after transplant, the disease comes back (relapse) in about 20% of patients. Of patients transplanted in chronic phase within one year of diagnosis, about 50% will be alive without further treatment and without clinical and hematological signs of disease at 8 years.
