homoharringtonine and Heart-Diseases

To assess the efficacy and toxicity of HAA regimen (Homoharringtonine 4 mg/m(2)/day, days 1-3; cytarabine 150 mg/m(2)/day, days 1-7; aclarubicin 12 mg/m(2)/day, days 1-7) as a salvage therapy in the treatment of refractory and/or relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 46 patients with refractory and/or relapsed AML, median age 37 (16-65) years, participated in this clinical study. The median follow-up was 41 (10-86) months. Eighty percent of patients achieved complete remission (CR), and the first single course of re-induction HAA regimen resulted in CR rate of 76.1 %. The study protocol allowed two courses of induction. The CR rates of patients with favorable, intermediate and unfavorable cytogenetics were 90 %, 88.9 %, and 37.5 %, respectively. For all patients, the estimated 3-year overall survival (OS) rate was 42 %, and the estimated relapse free survival (RFS) at 3 years for the 36 CR cases was 49 %. The toxicities associated with HAA regimen were acceptable. HAA is a good choice in cases with refractory/relapsing AML for salvage chemotherapy, preferably with a high-efficacy and low-toxicity profile.

Topics: Aclarubicin; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury; Combined Modality Therapy; Cytarabine; Disease-Free Survival; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Harringtonines; Heart Diseases; Homoharringtonine; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Kidney Diseases; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Leukemia, Myelomonocytic, Acute; Male; Middle Aged; Recurrence; Remission Induction; Salvage Therapy; Stem Cell Transplantation; Young Adult