Intensive antileukemic treatment of patients younger than 65 years with myelodysplastic syndromes and secondary acute myelogenous leukemia

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Intensive antileukemic treatment was evaluated in 22 patients with secondary acute myelogenous leukemia (sAML) and 14 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Results of combination remission‐induction chemotherapy were compared with 126 patients contemporarily treated for primary AML. The duration of hypoplasia, induced by remission induction chemotherapy, tended to be longer in the sAML and MDS patients when compared to de novo AML, but reached significance only for the duration of thrombocytopenia: 26 days versus 18 days (P de novo AML, 75% for sAML, and 71% for MDS. Remission rates in patients older than 45 years were identical in the three subgroups but significantly (P < 0.005) inferior to those obtained in younger patients: 56%, 50%, and 57%, in de novo AML, sAML, and MDS, respectively. The remission duration without bone marrow transplant (BMT) was significantly shorter (P < 0.01) in MDS and sAML when compared with primary AML. Long‐lasting CR in MDS and sAML was only obtained in three of the six patients treated with allogeneic BMT. Intensive antileukemic therapy could be considered in young patients with MDS and life‐threatening cytopenias or patients with sAML.

This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit: