New combo therapy aims to improve stem cell transplants for leukemia patients

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Recipient, or recipient's parents, or recipient's legal guardians must have signed a voluntary, informed consent in accordance with institutional and federal guidelines * Must have histopathologically confirmed diagnosis in one of the followed categories: * AML * MDS with intermediate or high-risk disease * ALL * Children and adults at any age with significant morbidity, as determined by the primary bone marrow transplant (BMT) doctor (MD), and approved by the principal investigator (PI) * Able to lie supine in a full body cast for approximately 30 minutes, the anticipated duration of each treatment session; for younger patients deep conscious sedation may be required * Performance status evaluated by Zubrod or Karnofsky (KPS) Performance Scales in patients \> 16 years or Lanksy Performance Scale in children =\< 16 years must have a score \>= 70% * Adequate cardiac function: cardiac ejection fraction \> 50% by multi gated acquisition scan (MUGA) scan and/or by echocardiogram * Adequate pulmonary function: adults (older than 16 years): diffusing capacity of carbon monoxide (DLCO) \> 50%; for young children in whom pulmonary function tests (PFT) are not applicable: assessment by a pediatrician or pulmonary consult * Adequate renal function as demonstrated by: creatinine clearance or glomerular filtration rate (GFR) \> 60 cc/min (24 hour urine collection) * Serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) =\< 5.0 times the institutional upper limits of normal * Patients must have less than 15% peripheral blasts * Pre-treatment tests must have been preformed within 30 days prior to initiation of high-dose chemotherapy * No other medical and/or psychosocial problems, which in the opinion of the primary physician or principle investigator would place the patient at unacceptable risk from this regimen Exclusion Criteria: * Patients with Acute Undifferentiated Leukemia (AUL), i.e. no lymphoid or myeloid markers * Previous radiation therapy to more than 20% of bone marrow containing areas, or to any area exceeding 2000 cGy * Patients with Fanconi Anemia * Major medical or psychiatric disorders that would seriously compromise patient tolerance of this regimen * Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection * Evidence of Hepatitis B or C infection or evidence of cirrhosis * Uncontrolled viral, bacterial or fungal infection * Patients with recent (within 4 weeks) serious viral, fungal, or bacterial infection are excluded * Patients with radiographic changes indicating pulmonary disease, including but not limited to: pulmonary nodules, infiltrates, pleural effusion are excluded unless cleared by pulmonary biopsy showing no evidence for active pulmonary disease