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Intensive consolidation versus oral maintenance therapy in patients 61 years or older with acute myeloid leukemia in first remission: results of second randomization of the AML HD98-B treatment Trial

Leukemia volume 20, pages 748–750 (2006)Cite this article

In patients over the age of 60 years with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), treatment results are disappointing with only modest improvement over the last four decades.1 In addition to the limited success rates after induction therapy, one major problem is that older adults have a high rate of relapse, and no clearly effective postremission therapy has been established.2, 3

We recently reported the results of our randomized phase III AML HD98-B treatment trial.4 In this study, we showed that the addition of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) to induction and first consolidation therapy significantly improved complete remission (CR) rates and survival in patients with AML (excluding acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL)) over the age of 60 years. The present report focuses on the second randomization of this trial that was performed to assess the role of a second intensive, intravenously (i.v.) given consolidation with idarubicin and etoposide versus a 1-year oral maintenance therapy with the same drugs.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all members of the German-Austrian Acute Myeloid Leukemia Study Group (AMLSG) for providing leukemia specimens.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine III, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany

    R F Schlenk, S Fröhling, K Döhner & H Döhner

  2. Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Homburg, Germany

    F Hartmann

  3. Städtisches Klinikum, Karlsruhe, Germany

    J Th Fischer

  4. Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Bonn, Germany

    A Glasmacher

  5. Klinikum Oldenburg, Germany

    F del Valle

  6. Department of Internal Medicine III, Technical University of Munich, Germany

    K Götze

  7. Städtisches Krankenhaus München-Schwabing, Munich, Germany

    C Nerl

  8. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kiel, Germany

    R Schoch

  9. Department of Internal Medicine IV, University of Giessen, Germany

    H Pralle

  10. Department of Oncology, Klinikum Stuttgart, Germany

    H G Mergenthaler

  11. Department of Internal Medicine V, University of Heidelberg, Germany

    M Hensel

  12. Hanusch-Krankenhaus, Wien, Germany

    E Koller

  13. Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen Brüder, Trier, Germany

    H Kirchen

  14. Caritas-Klinik St Theresia, Saarbrücken, Germany

    A Matzdorff

  15. Allgemeines Krankenhaus Altona, Hamburg, Germany

    H Salwender

  16. Kreisklinik, Trostberg, Germany

    H G Biedermann

  17. Caritas Krankenhaus, Lebach, Germany

    S Kremers

  18. Department of Hematology and Oncology, University of Göttingen, Germany

    D Haase

  19. Central Unit of Biostatistics, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

    A Benner

Authors
  1. R F Schlenk
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  2. S Fröhling
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  4. J Th Fischer
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  5. A Glasmacher
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  6. F del Valle
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  7. K Götze
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  8. C Nerl
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  9. R Schoch
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  10. H Pralle
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  11. H G Mergenthaler
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  12. M Hensel
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  13. E Koller
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  14. H Kirchen
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  15. A Matzdorff
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  16. H Salwender
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  17. H G Biedermann
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  18. S Kremers
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  19. D Haase
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  20. A Benner
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  21. K Döhner
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  22. H Döhner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to R F Schlenk.

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Schlenk, R., Fröhling, S., Hartmann, F. et al. Intensive consolidation versus oral maintenance therapy in patients 61 years or older with acute myeloid leukemia in first remission: results of second randomization of the AML HD98-B treatment Trial. Leukemia 20, 748–750 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404122

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