Acute Myeloid Leukemia |
From Hopital du Haut-Leveque, Pessac (AP, VP, LRS); Hopital Caremeau, Nîmes (EJ); Institut Paoli Calmettes, Marseille (NV); Hopital Purpan, Toulouse (ND, FH); Hopital Michallon, Grenoble (J-JS); Hopital dAngers, Angers (NI); Institut Bergonié, Bordeaux (JR), France
Correspondence: Arnaud Pigneux, Service des Maladies du Sang, Hopital du Haut-Leveque, Avenue de Magellan, 33604 Pessac Cedex, France. E-mail: arnaud.pigneux{at}chu-bor-deaux.fr
Background and Objectives: Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in older patients remains unsatisfactory. The BGMT 95 trial for older patients set out to improve the outcome of these patients by adding a third drug (lomustine) to a 5+7 idarubicin and cytarabine schedule at induction and evaluating intermediate-dose cytarabine as consolidation.
Design and Methods: A multicenter randomized trial was performed comparing induction therapy with idarubicin and cytarabine, 5+7 (IC) to induction therapy with the same drugs plus lomustine (CCNU), 200 mg\m2 orally on day 1 (ICL). Patients in complete remission (CR) were then randomized to receive either maintenance therapy or intensification with intermediate-dose cytarabine and idarubicin followed by maintenance therapy.
Results: Between 1995 and 2001, 364 patients (
60 years) from ten centers were included. The CR rate was 58% for patients in the IC arm and 67% for patients in the ICL arm (p=0.104). The median overall survival (OS) was 7 and 12 months respectively (p=0.05), but OS at 2 years was not statistically different: 31±7% for patients in the ICL arm vs 24±6% for those in the IC arm. The two post-remission strategies yielded similar results.
Interpretation and Conclusions: Adding lomustine to induction with idarubicin and cytarabine therapy did not statistically improve survival in elderly patients with AML. Adding intermediate-dose cytarabine to consolidation therapy did not improve outcome.
Key words: AML, older patients, lomustine.
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T. Prebet, N. Boissel, S. Reutenauer, X. Thomas, J. Delaunay, J.-Y. Cahn, A. Pigneux, B. Quesnel, F. Witz, S. Thepot, et al. Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Translocation (8;21) or Inversion (16) in Elderly Patients Treated With Conventional Chemotherapy: A Collaborative Study of the French CBF-AML Intergroup J. Clin. Oncol., October 1, 2009; 27(28): 4747 - 4753. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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