Patients
We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 41 newly diagnosed
high-risk neuroblastoma patients who underwent HDC with a
double-conditioning regimen comprising thiotepa and melphalan with
auto-SCT between June 2002 and October 2012 at the National Center for
Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan; the Osaka City General
Hospital, Osaka, Japan; and the Osaka University Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
This cohort included 19 patients reported in previous
studies.9,11,12 The diagnosis of high-risk
neuroblastoma was made on the basis of histological evaluation of tumor
samples showing the presence of elevated urine vanillylmandelic acid and
homovanillic acid. High-risk neuroblastoma was defined as follows:MYCN -amplified stage 2, 3, 4S, or 4 in patients of any age orMYCN -non-amplified stage 4 diagnosed at age >18
months.13 Staging was performed according to the
International Neuroblastoma Staging System (INSS).14The metastatic site index (MSI), a score based on the number of
metastatic systems/compartments involved, was also
calculated.15