[Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia in the elderly with low-dose cytosine arabinoside].

We report the outcome of 95 patients older than 60 years with de novo acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia (ANLL), treated in two institutions during a 10 year period. Thirty-two patients, mean age 78 years, did not receive any chemotherapy, and their median survival was 38 days. Five patients in good clinical condition, aged 60-63 years, were treated conventionally with an anthracycline and cytarabine, and three patients obtained a complete remission (CR) lasting 73, 417, and 1050 days. Fifty-eight patients were treated with low-dose cytarabine (LDC) for remission-induction and maintenance. Eighteen patients obtained CR, yielding a remission rate of 31%. The median duration of remission was 380 days and median survival of the same group was 498 days. LDC is valuable in the treatment of ANLL in the elderly. Controlled studies are warranted to define the indications for LDC versus conventional therapy in the large grey zone of elderly patients.