0000000000324879
AUTHOR
Leopold Balleisen
Imatinib combined with mitoxantrone/etoposide and cytarabine is an effective induction therapy for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in myeloid blast crisis.
BACKGROUND Despite advances in drug therapy and allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT), the prognosis of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in blast crisis remains poor. Imatinib has demonstrated synergistic effects in vitro with mitoxantrone, etoposide, and cytarabine. METHODS A Phase I/II trial was performed in patients with CML myeloid blast crisis. Patients were treated with imatinib + mitoxantrone/etoposide in four cohorts: mitoxantrone 10 mg/m2/day and etoposide 100 mg/m2/day for 2 or 3 consecutive days and imatinib 600 mg/day from Day 15 (cohorts 1 and 2) or from Day 1 (cohorts 3 and 4). After hematologic reconstitution after the cytopenic phase, cytarabine was giv…
Prospective randomized trial to evaluate two delayed granulocyte colony stimulating factor administration schedules after high-dose cytarabine therapy in adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
In acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), treatment with granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) during remission induction shortens granulocytopenia and may decrease morbidity due to infections. However, the optimal timing of G-CSF administration after chemotherapy is not known. In a prospective randomized multi-center study, adult ALL patients were treated with high-dose ARA-C [HDAC, 3 g/m(2) bid (1 g/m(2) bid for T-ALL) days 1-4] and mitoxantrone (MI 10 mg/m(2) days 3-5). They were randomized to receive recombinant human G-CSF (Lenograstim) 263 micro g/day SC starting either from day 12 (Group 1) or day 17 (Group 2). Fifty-five patients (41 male, 14 female) with a median age of 34 yea…