Treatment of relapsed acute myelocytic leukemia with a combination of aclarubicin and cytosine arabinoside.

Relapses in nine patients with acute myelocytic leukemia were treated with a combination of aclarubicin (ACR) and cytosine arabinoside (ara-C). ACR, 40 mg/m2/day, was administered daily by intravenous injection from day 1 to day 3 and ara-C, 60-80 mg/m2/day, divided into 2 doses, was given every 12 h by intravenous infusion from day 1 to day 7. Depending on the state of the bone marrow, ACR-ara-C regimen was modified in administration period and repeated after the resting periods of at least 7 days. Complete remission was obtained in 7 of 9 patients (77.8%). The time required for achieving the complete remission varied from 20 to 55 days with a median of 39 days. The duration of complete remission was from 8 to 52 weeks with a median of 22 weeks. Side effects on digestive system such as nausea, vomiting and anorexia, were seen in all patients, although they were managed by symptomatic treatment. The results indicate the effectiveness of this ACR-ara-C regimen in the clinical management of acute nonlymphocytic leukemia.