Allo vs Hypomethylating/Best Supportive Care in MDS (BMTCTN1102)

LFS is defined as the time from the date of patient consent to the date of progression to AML or death from any cause, whichever comes first. Progression to AML is defined as > 20% leukemic blasts in bone marrow or in the peripheral blood. Death from any cause or transformation of MDS to AML are considered events for this endpoint. Participants without either event are censored at the time of last follow-up. Three year leukemia-free survival probability estimates are adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, performance status, IPSS score, duration of disease, and response to prior hypomethylating therapy.

QOL will be compared between the 2 arms using the FACT-G instrument. FACT-G evaluates the health-related quality of life (HQL) of patients receiving treatment for cancer. FACT-G consists of four subscales developed and normed in cancer patients: Physical Well-being, Social/Family Well-being, Emotional Well-being, and Functional Well-being. The FACT-G score ranges 0-108. Each subscale is positively scored, with higher scores indicating better functioning. The self-reported questionnaire will be completed at enrollment and at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months from consent. Results shown are FACT-G total scores.

SF36 is being used in this protocol as a generic measure of quality of life (QOL). The self-reported questionnaires are completed at enrollment and at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months from consent. The MOS SF-36 instrument is a general assessment of health QOL with eight components: Physical Functioning, Role Physical, Pain Index, General Health Perceptions, Vitality, Social Functioning, Role Emotional, and Mental Health Index. The sub scores for each of the eight components were computed based on the raw categorical values from the survey and range 0-100 with higher scores indicating better outcomes for each domain. Then overall Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) are computed using standardized algorithm for SF36. MCS and PCS scores range 0-100 with higher score indicating positive outcome. To facilitate comparison of the results with published norms, PCS and MCS are used as the outcome measures in summarizing the SF-36 data.

QOL will be compared between the 2 arms using the EQ-5D survey. The EQ-5D contains a five-item survey with three response levels per item measuring mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. The EQ-5D takes approximately 1 minute to complete (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2005). The EQ-5D score ranges -0.224 to 1. The maximum score of 1 indicates the best health state, by contrast with the scores of individual questions, where higher scores indicate more severe or frequent problems. The self-reported questionnaire will be completed at enrollment and at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months from consent.

Time to event outcomes will be analyzed from the time of consent. Death from any cause will be considered an event for this endpoint. Surviving participants are censored at the time of last follow-up. Three-year OS estimates are adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, performance status, IPSS score, duration of disease, and response to prior hypomethylating therapy.

LFS is defined as the time from the date of patient consent to the date of progression to AML or death from any cause, whichever comes first. Progression to AML is defined as > 20% leukemic blasts in bone marrow or in the peripheral blood. Death from any cause or transformation of MDS to AML are considered events for this endpoint. Participants without either event are censored at the time of last follow-up. Three year leukemia-free survival probability estimates are adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, performance status, IPSS score, duration of disease, and response to prior hypomethylating therapy.

The time to event outcomes is evaluated from the time of transplant. Death from any cause will be considered an event for this endpoint. Surviving participants are censored at the time of last follow-up. OS estimates are adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, performance status, IPSS score, duration of disease, and response to prior hypomethylating therapy.

Outcome Measure Description: The time to event outcomes is evaluated from the time of transplant. Disease relapse is defined as: Satisfying criteria for evolution into acute leukemia; or reappearance of pre-transplant morphologic abnormalities, detected in bone marrow specimens; or reappearance of pre-transplant cytogenetic abnormality in at least one metaphase on each of two separate consecutive examinations at least one month apart, regardless of the number of metaphases analyzed; or institution of any therapy to treat relapsed disease (institution of any therapy not meant for maintenance or prevention), including withdrawal of immunosuppressive therapy or DLI. Relapse estimates are adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, performance status, IPSS score, duration of disease, and response to prior hypomethylating therapy.

The time to event outcomes is evaluated from the time of transplant. Death or disease relapse/progression will be considered as events for this endpoint. Surviving participants are censored at the time of last follow-up. DFS estimates are adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, performance status, IPSS score, duration of disease, and response to prior hypomethylating therapy.

The time to event outcomes is evaluated from the time of transplant. The events are deaths prior to disease relapse. TRM estimates are adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, performance status, IPSS score, duration of disease, and response to prior hypomethylating therapy.

Grade II-IV aGVHD is the event. aGVHD will be graded according to the BMT CTN Manual of Procedures (MOP). Staging for skin: Stage 1. <25% rash; 2. 25-50%; 3. >50%; 4. generalized erythroderma with bullae. Staging for GI: Stage 1. Diarrhea>500ml/d or persistent nausea; 2. >1000ml/d; 3. >1500ml/d; 4. Large volume diarrhea and severe abdominal pain +- ileus. Staging for Liver: Stage 1. bilirubin 2-3mg/dl; 2. bilirubin 3-6 mg/dl; 3. bilirubin 6-15 mg/dl; 4. bilirubin>15mg/dl. aGVHD grading is performed by the consensus conference criteria (Przepiorka et al. 1995). Grade I aGVHD is defined as Skin stage of 1-2 and stage 0 for both GI and liver organs. Grade II is stage 3 of skin, or stage 1 of GI, or stage 1 of liver. Grade III is stage 2-4 for GI, or stage 2-3 of liver. Grade IV is stage 4 of skin, or stage 4 of liver.

The time to event outcomes is evaluated from the time of transplant. Grade III-IV Acute GVHD will be considered as events for this endpoint.

The time to event outcomes is evaluated from the time of transplant. Chronic GVHD will be considered as events for this endpoint. Data will be collected and reviewed according to the recommendations of the NIH Consensus Criteria. Eight organs will be scored on a 0-3 scale to reflect degree of chronic GVHD involvement. Liver and pulmonary function test results and use of systemic therapy for treatment of chronic GVHD will also be recorded. This secondary endpoint of chronic GVHD will include mild, moderate and severe chronic GVHD based on NIH Consensus Criteria.