Materials and Methods:
We describe a cohort of eight pediatric patients, which suffered from a
primary refractory or relapsed acute leukemia and were treated with the
salvage regimen of high dose melphalan and cytarabine. The patients were
treated between the years 2015 and 2019 in the Children’s University
Hospital Tübingen. All patients were previously treated by a standard of
care chemotherapy prior to high dose melphalan and cytarabine. Response
was evaluated by examination of bone marrow (BM) before and after
application of melphalan and cytarabine. In case of response, allogeneic
hematopoietic stem cell transplantation was performed immediately
afterwards. Additional supportive care was administered according to our
institutional standards, including antibiotic, antifungal and antiviral
prophylaxis.