Metronomic therapy with oral 6-mercaptopurine in elderly acute myeloid leukemia: A prospective pilot study (original) (raw)

Intensive chemotherapy is the treatment of choice for elderly patients with acute myelogenous leukemia

Blood, 1981

One-hundred and seven patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) ranging in age from 15 to 82 yr who were previously untreated, received a 70 day high-dose remission induction regimen consisting of daunorubicin, cytarabine, and thioguanine (TAD). Identical complete remission rates of 65% were observed for 33 patients 60 yr of age and older and for 74 patients age 15–59 yr. Median remission duration and survival were 14 mo and 22 mo for patients 60 yr and older, and 16 mo and 22 mo for patients 15–59 yr. These differences are not significant. These data indicate that older patients respond to intensive chemotherapy in a similar manner to younger patients with this disease.

Treatment of older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML): a Canadian consensus

American journal of blood research, 2013

Patients over age 60 comprise the majority of those diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but treatment approaches in this population are variable, with many uncertainties and controversies. Our group conducted a literature review to summarize the latest information and to develop a consensus document with practical treatment recommendations. We addressed five key questions: selection criteria for patients to receive intensive induction chemotherapy; optimal induction and post-remission regimens; allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT); treatment of patients not suitable for induction chemotherapy; and treatment of patients with prior hematological disorders or therapy-related AML. Relevant literature was identified through a PubMed search of publications from 1991 to 2012. Key findings included the recognition that cytogenetics and molecular markers are major biologic determinants of treatment outcomes in the older population, both during induction therapy ...

Conservative treatment for patients over 80 years with acute myelogenous leukemia

American Journal of Hematology, 2002

In order to evaluate the best treatment of very elderly patients with AML, we have retrospectively analyzed 60 cases of patients aged more than 80 years, with a diagnosis of AML and observed from January 1988 to December 1998. Six of these patients were subsequently referred to other centers; of the remaining 54 patients, 20 (37%) received only supportive care, whereas 34 (63%) required palliative chemotherapy to control leukocytosis, after a median time from diagnosis of 9 days (range 0-253). Median overall survival was 13 weeks (range 1-105): 21 (39%) and 6 (11%) patients survived more than 6 and 12 months, respectively. Twenty-eight patients (51.8%) died from progressive disease, 19 (35.1%) died from AML-related or unrelated causes in the phase of stable disease, while in 7 patients the cause of death was unknown. In univariate analysis, PS > 2 and WBC > 50 × 10 9 /L had an adverse prognostic significance on survival. Our results, as compared with those reported in the literature for patients over 80 years treated with intensive chemotherapy, support the idea that intensive chemotherapy is usually not indicated in very elderly patients with AML, and that conservative treatment and the primary strategy of "watch-and-wait" presently seems to be the best choice. Am. J. Hematol. 71:256-259, 2002.

Results of intensive chemotherapy in 998 patients age 65 years or older with acute myeloid leukemia or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome

Cancer, 2006

BACKGROUND. Elderly patients (age Ն 65 years) with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) generally have a poor prognosis. AML-type therapy results are often derived from studies in younger patients and may not apply to elderly AML. Many investigators and oncologists advocate, at times, only supportive care or frontline single agents, Phase I-II studies, low-intensity regimens, or 'targeted' therapies. However, baseline expectations for outcomes of elderly AML with 'standard' AML-type therapy are not well defined. The aim was to develop prognostic models for complete response (CR), induction (8-week) mortality, and survival rates in elderly AML, which would be used to advise oncologists and patients of expectations with standard AML type therapy, and to establish baseline therapy results against which novel strategies would be evaluated.

Induction chemotherapy versus palliative treatment for acute myeloid leukemia in a consecutive cohort of elderly patients

Annals of Hematology, 2012

A retrospective survey of 210 consecutive patients aged ≥65 years (median age 69 years, range 65-88 years) with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) diagnosed at a single center over a 6-year period (January 2001 to December 2006) is presented. De novo AML was diagnosed in 179 (85.2 %) patients and 31 (14.7 %) patients had a secondary AML. Twenty-three patients had M0 (11 %), 36 M1 (17.15 %), 57 M2 (27.1 %), eight M3 (3.8 %), 45 M4 (21.4 %), 31 M5 (14.8 %), one M6 (0.5 %), one M7 (0.5 %), and eight patients had unclassified myeloid