Abstract
We treated 153 patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with two induction courses of conventional-dose cytosine arabinoside (ara-C) and idarubicin (AIDA) followed by either a third course of AIDA, high-dose ara-C or bone-marrow transplantation. The complete remission (CR) rate for all patients was 63.4%, with a higher CR rate for patients with a normal (versus unfavorable) karyotype (73.2% vs 52.5%;P=0.038). The probability of overall survival (OS) was 30.7% after 5 years (26.3% after 7 years). Improved OS at 5 years could be observed for patients up to 50 years old versus patients older than 50 years of age (37.6% vs 19.9%;P=0.001) and patients with a normal (versus unfavorable) karyotype (42.9% vs 14.1%;P=0.0016). Disease-free survival (DFS) after 5 years was 33.2% for all 97 CR patients and was significantly better for patients with a normal (versus unfavorable) karyotype (44.3% vs 12.3%;P=0.003). Multivariate analysis revealed that the age for OS (P<0.02) and the karyotype for both OS (P<0.03) and DFS (P<0.05) were independent prognostic factors. In conclusion, AIDA is an effective and well-tolerated induction regimen (even in elderly patients) with a 5-year survival of more than 30% when combined with ara-C-containing postremission therapy. The karyotype is the most powerful prognostic factor for predicting the outcome of patients treated with this protocol.
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Received: 10 December 1999 / Accepted: 25 February 2000
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Flasshove, M., Meusers, P., Schütte, J. et al. Long-term survival after induction therapy with idarubicin and cytosine arabinoside for de novo acute myeloid leukemia. Ann Hematol 79, 533–542 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002770000193
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002770000193