CYTARABINE, ACLARUBICIN IN COMBINATION WITH G-CSF (CAG) REGIMEN REPRESENTS AN ALTERNATIVE RE-INDUCTION OPTION FOR NON-REMISSION ACUTE MYELOID LEUKEMIA

MEIQING LEI, LIMIN LIU, DEPEI WU

Department of Hematology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Jiangsu Institute of Hematology, Key laboratory of Thrombosis and Hemostasis of Ministry of Health, Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Suzhou 215006, China

Objective: This study aimed at comparing the efficacy and toxicity of 3 re-induction regimens in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients with non-remission (NR) after the first course of standard induction regimen.

Materials and methods: The 3 regimens comprise: 1) CAG (low-dose cytarabine and aclarubicin and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)) regimen (n = 50); 2) intermediate/high-dose cytarabine (I/HDAC) containing regimen (n = 30); and 3) SDAC (standard-dose cytarabine) combination regime (n = 27).

Results: After the second course, results showed no significant differences in complete remission (CR) and overall response (OR=CR + partial remission (PR)) rates among these 3 regimens (P = 0.763, P = 0.321). However, the time of duration of neutropenia was shorter in CAG group than I/HDAC group (11 days vs. 16 days, P = 0.021). The overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) rates were not significantly different in among 3 groups (P = 0.924, P = 0.536, respectively).

Conclusions: Our preliminary results indicates that CAG regimen maybe as another option for these NR AML patients when re-induction chemotherapy.