Treatment of adult acute myeloblastic leukemia.

The introduction of combination chemotherapy in the treatment of adult acute leukemia has had a profound impact on the response and duration of survival of patients with adult acute myeloblastic leukemia. In the past decade, the combination of cytosine arabinoside with an anthracycline antibiotic, either daunorubicin, adriamycin, or rubidazone, has been responsible to a large degree for the success. In a study done at the M.D. Anderson Hospital in 1973, a combination of adriamycin, vincristine, Ara-C and prednisone (Table 1) was utilized for initial induction therapy for 58 adults between the age of 15 and 76 with a diagnosis of acute myeloblastic leukemia. 43 (74%) of the patients achieved a complete remission with 31 of 35 (89%) patients under the age of 50 achieving a complete remission [4]. Median duration of survival in this group of patients was 58 weeks. Nine patients remain alive between 4 and 5 years from diagnosis. These 9 are all in their original first complete remission and represents 9 of 3 1 Patients (29%) under the age of 50 who achieved remission.