[Successful treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia in an elderly patient with cytarabine ocfosfate].

A 77-year-old female with left hemiplegia caused by cerebral infarction and with mild senile dementia was admitted for further examination of hematological abnormalities. She was diagnosed as acute myelogenous leukemia (AML-M5a) according to French-American-British classification. Since intensive combination chemotherapy seemed difficult, she was treated with oral administration of cytarabine ocfosfate (200 mg/day, for 14 days), a cytidine deaminase-resistant derivative of Ara-C, resulting in complete remission. Major side effects were nausea, vomiting and appetite loss, but their incidences were reduced tolerably when cytarabine ocfosfate was given just before sleeping. Cytarabine ocfosfate might be useful to treat AML in elderly patients having certain complications such as cerebrovascular disease.