effect of long- and short-term miniconsolidation on survival of patients with acute myelogenous leukemia

a retrospective study was done on 130 aml patients treated in shariati and imam hospitals in tehran from 1991 to 1997 to investigate the value of three post-remission methods of treatment. all patients who were in complete remission (cr) (group i) had been treated with ara-c (300 mg/m2/day continuous infusion for 5 days) and daunorubicine (45 mg/m2/day for 3 days) as induction and early consolidation therapy. forty patients were treated by additional similar chemotherapy as second consolidation and no further treatment was offered. fifty patients (group ii) were treated by ara-c (120 mg/m2 subcutaneously for 5 days), etoposide (120 mg/m2 on day one), and mitoxantrone (12 mg/m2 on day one) on each successive month as short-term miniconsolidation. forty patients (group iii) were treated similarly to group ii until relapse for up to two years as long-term miniconsolidation. there was no difference in the three groups regarding mean age and other prognostic factors. treatment related mortality and morbidity were also similar. median duration of disease-free survival (dfs) was 36 (3.5-68 with 95% ci), 17 (12.5-21.5) and 19 (14.7-23.3) months respectively in these three groups. in a 14- month median observation there was no difference in dfs and overall survival (os) among the three groups (p=0.7). we concluded that short- or long-term miniconsolidation chemotherapy compared to standard treatment does not improve dfs and os in aml patients.