Limited efficacy of a four-day course of high-dose cytosine arabinoside in the treatment of poor-risk patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia.
High-dose cytosine arabinoside therapy was administered to 29 patients with poor-prognosis acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. In an attempt to reduce toxicity, therapy was divided into an initial 4-day course of therapy, followed by a 3-day course of the marrow aspirate examined 1 week after the end of treatment contained substantial numbers of leukemic cells. Of the 29 patients, 5 entered complete remission, 2 of them after the initial 4-day course of therapy. The toxicity of split-course therapy was the same as that of conventional 6-day high-dose cytosine arabinoside therapy. This study demonstrates that the modification of high-dose cytosine arabinoside therapy used in this study failed to reduce toxicity and produced a lower remission rate than that obtained with the 6-day course of therapy.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011379:Prognosis; D012306:Risk; D013997:Time Factors
D003561:Cytarabine