OBJECTIVES:
Primary
* To assess non-relapse or progression-related mortality at 1 year in patients over 55 with hematological malignancies undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from a matched related, filgrastim (G-CSF)-mobilized donor and treated with conditioning comprising fludarabine phosphate, busulfan, and anti-lymphocyte globulin.
* To assess the incidence of graft-versus-host disease in these patients.
* To assess the incidence of relapse in these patients.
* To assess cellular recovery in these patients.
* To assess myeloid and lymphocyte chimerism in these patients.
Secondary
* To study the usual clinical and biological aspects of the transplantation in these patients.
* To study the impact of the Charlson score and the suitability for allogeneic transplantation score on mortality and 1-year survival.
* To assess the quality of life (QLQ-C30) of these patients.
* To study the economic cost of transplantation from conditioning to 1 year post-transplant.
* To study the mobilization and collection of progenitor stem cells in the donors.
* To study the psychological impact of donating stem cells on the donors.
OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.
* Conditioning: Patients receive fludarabine phosphate IV over 30 minutes on days -5 through -1, busulphan IV over 2 hours every 6 hours on days -4 and -3, and anti-lymphocyte globulin IV over 4 hours on days -2 and -1.
* Transplantation: Patients undergo allogeneic hematopoietic stem call transplantation on day 0.
Patients complete a quality of life survey (QLQ-C30). After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every month for 6 months and then every 3 months for 6 months.
