[Patients older than 80 years with de novo acute myeloid leukemias without erythroblastic and/or megakaryocytic dysplasia achieve complete remission and longer survival after classical chemotherapy 3 + 7].
Chemotherapy in most patients with AML over 80 years of age is not recommended because their median survival is about 1 month. The aim of our study was to identify patients in this age group who might achieve complete remission with standard dose chemotherapy. We report 9 consecutive patients with de novo AML diagnosed and treated in 1992-2008. All bone marrow samples were hypercellular, classified as FAB types M2 in 2 cases, M4 in 6, and M5 in one case. Three patients opted for supportive or palliative therapy and survived 1-4 months. Six patients received standard dose chemotherapy. Two patients with a normal karyotype had resistant AML and survived 1.0 and 2.7 months; one patient with a complex karyotype died of septic shock on the 10th day of therapy. All these three patients exhibited erythroblastic and/or megakaryocytic dysplasia (EMD) at presentation (two in more than 26% erythroblasts, all three in a half or more of megakaryocytes). Three remaining patients with AML M4, a normal karyotype but without EMD, achieved complete remission in spite of co-morbidities and a poor performance status. Two of them survived 18.6 and 28 months on maintenance therapy, the third 16.5 months without it. Very elderly AML patients without EMD appear to represent a favorable prognostic biological category (single-lineage AML) that show a good response to standard dose chemotherapy.
Lemez
P
P
Hematologicko-transfuzní oddĕlení Nemocnice Jihlava. plemez@post.cz
Gáliková
J
J
Michalová
K
K
Dvoráková
D
D
MacWhannell
A
A
Zemanová
Z
Z
Stejskal
J
J
D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003630:Daunorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004900:Erythroblasts / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008533:Megakaryocytes / Q000473:pathology; D008942:Mitoxantrone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D012074:Remission Induction; D015996:Survival Rate
D003561:Cytarabine; D008942:Mitoxantrone; D003630:Daunorubicin