Busulfan (Bu)/cyclophosphamide (Cy) is a standard conditioning platform for allogeneic transplantation. We developed a strategy separating the Cy into two pre/post-transplantation doses (PTCy), providing myeloablative conditioning and single-agent graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis. We investigated the impact of Bu route on treatment-related toxicity for 131 consecutive adult patients. Busulfan was administered in four daily divided doses either orally (n = 72) or intravenously (n = 59) with pharmacokinetics on the first-dose and as necessary on subsequent doses to achieve a target area-under-the-concentration-curve (AUC) of 800-1400 μmol*min/L per dose. BuCy/PTCy with pharmacokinetics is well-tolerated with low treatment-related toxicity. Hepatic veno-occlusive disease incidence was 6% with two fatal events. Bu administration route in the context of BuCy/PTCy did not statistically impact hepatotoxicity, GVHD, relapse, disease-free survival, or overall survival. The BuCy/PTCy platform has a low incidence of treatment-related toxicity, including hepatotoxicity, in hematologic malignancies when using pharmacokinetics for a target AUC of 800-1400 μmol*min/L, irrespective of Bu administration route.
Keywords: Busulfan; post-transplantation cyclophosphamide; route; toxicity.