Treatment of recurrent metastatic medulloblastoma with intensive chemotherapy and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

We report here the first known case of a patient with recurrent metastatic medulloblastoma to achieve long-term disease-free survival following treatment with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. A 27 year old white male with recurrent metastatic medulloblastoma involving lymph nodes, bone and bone marrow was treated with multi-agent chemotherapy followed by allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from an HLA-identical sibling donor. Morbidity was acceptable with moderate to severe mucositis in the immediate post transplant period and clinical grade I graft versus host disease of the skin controlled with modest doses of corticosteroids. The patient continues in unmaintained complete remission in excess of 28 months with a performance status of 100%. Allogeneic marrow transplantation following cytoreductive salvage chemotherapy is an aggressive strategy that may offer an improved likelihood of disease eradication and ultimate cure for poor prognosis patients with recurrent metastatic medulloblastoma.