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High remission rate in acute myeloblastic leukemia in children treated with high‐dose methylprednisolone
Author(s) -
Hicsönmez Gönül,
Karadeniz Nilufer,
Zamani V. Prozorova,
Tuncer A. Murat,
Gümrük Fatma,
Erturk Gülyüz,
Gurgey Aytemiz,
Ozsoylu Sinasi
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
european journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1600-0609
pISSN - 0902-4441
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0609.1992.tb01588.x
Subject(s) - medicine , acute myeloblastic leukemia , methylprednisolone , complete remission , chemotherapy , bone marrow , cytarabine , surgery , gastroenterology , myeloid , leukemia
Since the differentiating effect of high‐dose methylprednisolone (HDMP) on myeloid leukemic cells has been shown in one of our patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML‐M4), 27 previously untreated children with AML were given HDMP (20–30 mg/kg per day) combined with cytosine arabinoside (Ara‐C; 3 mg/kg) for the first 2 weeks of induction therapy. Marked clinical improvement was observed in all patients with the exception of one who died within 24 hours of the treatment. Enlarged liver and spleen (>5 cm) became nonpalpable in 3 (37%) out of 8 and 5 (100%) out of 5 patients, respectively, and bone marrow blasts decreased below 5% in 7 patients (27%) within 2 wk of HDMP and Ara‐C treatment. Adriamycin (1 mg/kg) was added 2 wk after initiation of induction therapy. Twenty‐two (84.6%) of the 26 patients achieved complete remission, 3 (11.5%) had partial remission and no response was obtained in one. Treatment was well tolerated. The addition of HDMP as a differentiating and/or cytolytic agent to conventional anti‐leukemic chemotherapy increased the complete remission rate and prolonged the duration of remission of our AML patients.