Abstract
Seven pediatric patients with refractory acute leukemia (five with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, one with acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia, one with leukemic transformation of malignant lymphoma) received mitoxantrone as a single agent. The median age of the patients was 6 years (range, 2 years to 16 years). The median dose of the cumulative anthracyclines (i.e., adriamycin and/or daunorubicin and/or aclarubicin) was 300 mg/m2 (range, 195 mg/m2 to 1575 mg/m2). Mitoxantrone was administered intravenously at a dose of 5-10 mg/m2 daily for five consecutive days. Of the six evaluable patients, one who achieved complete remission had received cumulative doses of aclarubicin at 1575 mg/m2 before the mitoxantrone course. Five of the six evaluable patients, that had survived four weeks or longer, had suffered from severe myelosuppression. All five patients had received the antibiotics because of suspected infection; two had documented sepsis, one had fungal pneumonia resulting in death. Further study is needed to determine the value of mitoxantrone in the treatment of acute leukemia in children.
