Cure of acute myelocytic leukemia in adults: a reality.

Adult acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) is a curable disease in responsive patients with aggressive treatment in remission. Over the past decade at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, AML has been treated with either allogeneic bone marrow transplantation or with intensive timed sequential treatment using high dose cytarabine in remission. With either treatment modality comparable cure rates were obtained. The role, if any, of randomized trials to adequately determine the preferred treatment for appropriate patients has yet to be defined.