COMBINATION CHEMOTHERAPY OF CARBOPLATIN AND CYTOSINE-ARABINOSIDE FOR HIGH-RISK LEUKEMIA - A PILOT-STUDY

Fourteen patients with high-risk leukemia (six with relapsed AML, thre e with relapsed ALL, one with AML-MO, four with CML in myeloid blastic crisis) were treated with a combination chemotherapy of carboplatin ( 200-300 mg/m(2)/day) and cytosine arabinoside (100 mg/m(2)/day) by 24 h continuous infusion for 5-7 days. Five patients (35.7%) achieved com plete remission including two patients complicated with myelofibrosis (one with AML-MO and one with CML in myelo-megakaryocytic crisis). Thi rteen patients had nausea and vomiting, five patients had severe, prol onged neutropenia for which it was necessary to administer granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and six patients had severe thrombocytopeni a. We concluded that this regimen is effective for the treatment of hi gh-risk leukemia.