Abstract
In order to develop new strategies for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, the German AML Cooperative Group performed a prospective multicenter phase II study to evaluate the antileukemic efficacy of aclarubicin 60 mg/m2/day and etoposide 100 mg/m2/day each given for 5 days. Of 37 heavily pretreated evaluable patients (median age 42 years, range 18–81) 15 (40%) achieved a remission after one or two courses of treatment consisting of nine complete (24%) and six partial remissions (16%). Fourteen (38%) cases were non-responders and eight (22%) patients suffered from early deaths. Disease-free survival for patients in remission and overall survival were 3.2 months each. The median duration of critical neutropenia <500/μl was 27 days. the most frequent non-hematologic side-effects were stomatitis (who iii/iv, 48%), infections (40%), nausea/vomiting (26%) and diarrhea (24%). cardiac toxicity was mild. this study suggests a substantial antileukemic efficacy and an acceptable toxicity of aclarubicin in combination with etoposide in heavily pretreated patients with advanced acute myeloid leukemia, and warrants further evaluations in a more favorable stage of the disease.
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Kern, W., Braess, J., Grote-Metke, A. et al. Combination of aclarubicin and etoposide for the treatment of advanced acute myeloid leukemia: results of a prospective multicenter phase II trial. Leukemia 12, 1522–1526 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2401155
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2401155