Improved relapse-free survival after autologous stem cell transplantation does not translate into better quality of life in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: Lessons from the randomized European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation-Intergroup study

Item does not contain fulltext In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) medical progress is driven by clinical studies with relapse-free survival (RFS) as the primary endpoint. The randomized EBMT-Intergroup trial compared high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) to observation and demonstrated a substantial improvement of RFS without showing improved overall survival for the transplant arm. Here we report quality of life (QoL) information of the first 3 years following randomization from that study. The main objective was to assess the impact of treatment on QoL over time. Two secondary analyses were performed to further investigate the impact of ASCT and relapse on Q…