Primary Central Nervous System Involvement at Initial Diagnosis Remains an Independent Risk Factor for Relapse in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in CR1

Background: A recent study from the Acute Leukemia Working Party of EBMT demonstrated that outcomes of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) for adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have improved significantly over time and that total body irradiation (TBI) should be considered as the preferable type of myeloablative conditioning (MAC). This study, however, did not compare outcomes of allo-HCT in patients with CNS involvement (CNS-pos) vs. those without CNS disease (CNS-neg).