Treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia in children and adults.

We designed a protocol to address the problem of relapse from complete remission in acute myelogenous leukemia. Patients in remission were treated for 14 months; early and later intensification of chemotherapy, sequential drug combinations, and high-dose continuous infusions of cytarabine were included. Eighty-three consecutive patients under 50 years of age were entered into this study from February 1976 to October 1979. The rate of complete remission is 70 per cent. A Kaplan-Meier analysis predicts that 49 +/- 17 per cent of patients (mean +/- 2 S.D.) who entered complete remission will remain free of disease at two years. Durations of complete remission for patients in the 0 to 17-year and 18 to 50-year age groups are comparable.