Periodic Consolidation Courses in Maintenance of Remission in Acute Leukemia in Children

Abstract

A total of 50 patients—17 with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML), 11 with poorly differentiated AML, 3 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 19 with acute unclassified leukemia—have been studied in order to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of periodic consolidation courses in maintenance of remission.
Consolidation courses were administered to 31 patients (consolidation group) and the other patients were observed as a control group.
Consolidation courses were instituted every three months with VCR 1.5 mg/m²/w on days 1 and 8, MTX 15 mg/m² twice a week, 6-MP 60 mg/m²/day for 7 days and Prednisolone 40 mg/m²/day for 7 days orally, or with combination of VCR, 6-MP and Prednisolone for 7 or 14 days.
In consolidation group, the average hematological remission duration was 14.2 months and the averaga survival was 25.4 months. The average hematological remission duration was four times as long as a control group.
Drug toxicity due to consolidation courses included leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, diminution of serum IgG and IgA and mild local infections.
This method has proved in our experience to prolong considerably the remission duration of acute leukemia in children.