The Prognosis of Adult Burkitt’s Cell Leukemia in Real-Life Clinical Practice

OBJECTIVE Many studies reported an improved prognosis in patients with Burkitt's lymphoma obviating the need of stem cell transplantation. However, prognosis of the advanced disease [i.e. Burkitt's cell leukemia (BCL)] has not been reported with current treatment modalities except for a few prospective trials. The aim of this study is to compare the prognoses of BCL patients with similarly treated and nontransplanted patients with other types of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and with ALL patients that underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in their first remissions. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this retrospective analysis, BCL patients aged between 16 and 63 who were admitted between 2000 and 2014 to the hospitals of Hacettepe or Gazi University and were treated with intensive therapies aimed at cure were included. All ALL patients who were treated with a similar protocol not including transplantation during the same period (NT-ALL group) and all ALL patients who underwent ASCT in the first complete remission during the same period (T-ALL group) served as control groups. RESULTS The central nervous system or extramedullary involvement rates, lactate dehydrogenase levels, and white blood cell counts at diagnosis were higher in the BCL group than the NT-ALL group and these differences were significant. BCL patients had disease-free survival (DFS) durations comparable with the T-ALL cohort but NT-ALL patients had significantly shorter DFS durations. Both cumulative relapse incidence and cumulative nonrelapse mortality were higher in NT-ALL patients compared to the T-ALL group and BCL patients. CONCLUSION DFS in BCL patients treated with a widely accepted modern regimen, R-HyperCVAD, is comparable to results in other ALL patients receiving allogeneic transplantation. Our results are in agreement with a few prospective noncomparative studies suggesting no further need for stem cell transplantation in BCL.