title: Serial studies on in vitro colony formation in patients with acute leukemia in relation to the maintenance of remission.
abstract: For the purpose of preventing a relapse of acute leukemia which is currently the major problem in the successful treatment of the disease, repeated consolidation or intensification therapy during the first year following remission is important. To evaluate these therapies, we investigated the serial changes in CFU-C's of the marrow cells from 12 patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia in remission and tried to estimate the relationship between the intensity of consolidation or intensification therapy and the duration of remission, utilizing the degree of reduction in CFU-C's seven days after these treatments as an indicator. As a result, after 21 out of 22 courses of therapy where CFU-C's were reduced significantly after the therapy, the patients were still in remission at the time of the next intensificiation therapy (at most for about 100 days). On the other hand, after five out of ten courses where CFU-C's were not reduced significantly, the patients were in relapse at the time of the next intensification therapy. From these results, it may be inferred that cases whose CFU-C's are not reduced significantly should be treated intensively again within a short period.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003630:Daunorubicin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000097:blood*; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000188:drug therapy; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D015122:Mercaptopurine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous
chemical_list: D003561:Cytarabine; D011239:Prednisolone; D015122:Mercaptopurine; D003630:Daunorubicin