Korean J Hematol.  2003 Nov;38(4):228-233.

Induction Chemotherapy for Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia Aged over 60 Years

Affiliations
  • 1Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Catholic Hemopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Center, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea. wsmin@catholic.ac.kr

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Clinical and biologic characteristics of elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have not been well defined yet and there is no consensus on the appropriate treatment approach. We analyzed the outcome of these patients in terms of complete remission (CR) and the long-term life expectancy.
METHODS
Twenty patients received mitoxantrone at the dose range of 4~8 mg/m2/ day for 3 days according to the patients' condition based on age and performance status, low-dose cytosine arabinoside 10mg/m2 subcutaneously at every 12 hours for 10~14 days, and etoposide 100mg/day per os for 10~14 days. Most of patients achieving CR received at least 1~3 more courses of post-remission therapy with same initial regimen. Nine out of 17 patients receiving more than two courses of post-remission chemotherapy received their cryopreserved peripheral bloods stem cells after the second or third consolidation chemotherapy.
RESULTS
Overall, CR was achieved in 16 (80%) out of 20 patients and the median CR duration was 6 months (range 2~17 months). The most frequent complication during the induction chemotherapy was pneumonia (55%).
CONCLUSION
The induction chemotherapy regimen including mitoxantrone, cytosine arabinoside, and etoposide seems to be promising in elderly AML patients in terms of CR rate, while its duration was short. Hopefully, it is necessary to develop a new post-remission therapy to maintain long-term disease-free survival in elderly AML patients.

Keyword

Elderly acute myeloid leukemia; Induction chemotherapy; Complete remission

MeSH Terms

Aged
Consensus
Consolidation Chemotherapy
Cytarabine
Disease-Free Survival
Drug Therapy
Etoposide
Humans
Induction Chemotherapy*
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute*
Life Expectancy
Mitoxantrone
Pneumonia
Population Characteristics
Stem Cells
Cytarabine
Etoposide
Mitoxantrone
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