Analysis Of The Efficacy And The Toxic Side Effect Of Idarubicin When Used With Cytosine Arabinoside As Induction Chemotherapy For Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Objective: The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy (complete remission rate), period of bone suppression and the toxic side effects of idarubicin (IDA) when used with cytosine arabinoside (Ara-c) as induction chemotherapy for newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia(AML).Methods: We analyzed a group of 55 newly diagnosed AML patients. The patients received IDA plus Ara-C regimen (IA), IDA 9mg/ m2·d (days 1–3), Ara-c 150mg/ m2·d(days 1–7). Results: 37 patients achieved a complete remission (CR), CR rate was 67.3%, 8 patients partial remission (PR), PR rate was 14.6%. The overall response rate was 81.8%. We classify the patients by sex,age, the level of white blood cell count (WBC) and FAB classification to compare the CR rate.Results: The outcome show that there is no significant differences between the groups. Median time to period of bone suppression was 17 (range 3–33). The toxic side effects of the chemotherapy mainly was arrest of bone marrow and all kinds of infection which was induced by the lack of neutrophils. There was no serious extra-hematologic toxicity.Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest that IDA-based regimen is effective to patients with AML, and the extra-hematologic toxicity is small. But the period of bone suppression is longer then other induction chemotherapy,so supportive treatment with Granulocyte colonystimulating factor (G-CSF) and blood product is important during the aplastic phase.