Efficacy and Safety of Decitabine Combined with Half-Course Pre-excitation for the Treatment of Elderly Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Abstract

To investigate the efficacy and safety of decitabine combined with half-course pre-excitation for the treatment of elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). 44 cases of newly diagnosed elderly AML admitted in our hospital from January 2016 to December 2017 were selected for the retrospective analysis. The patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: pre-excitation therapy group as control and combined therapy group. The 22 patients in pre-excitation therapy group reccived the routine complete course pre-excitation treatment, 22 patients in combined therapy group received the desitabine combined the half course pre-excitation treatment. The therapentic efficacy and adverse reactions during treatment were compared between 2 groups. All patients were followed-up and the survival rate at 6,12 and 24 months was compared between 2 groups. The remission rate(RR) in the combined therapy group was 72.73%, and that in the control group was 50.00%, with significant statistically difference (P<0.05). The median survival time in combined therapy group (17.82±4.19 months) and control group (12.43±3.71 months) was statistically significant (P<0.05). The rate of adverse reactions of digestive tract in combined therapy group was 40.91%, which was higher than that in control group (18.18%), and the difference of two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in blood system and bone marrow suppression in combined therapy group was 9.09% and 68.18%, which were lower than those in control group (27.27% and 95.45%), with statistically significant differences (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of liver dysfunction, cardiac insufficiency and hair loss between the two groups (P>0.05). The incidence of pulmonary infection, intestinal infection and other complications in combined therapy group was 13.64%, which was lower than that in control group 31.82%, and the difference of two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). No serious complications such as arteriovenous thrombosis occurred in either group, and no patients died during chemotherapy. Combination of disitamine and half-course prestimulation treatmentis is a safe and effective and elderly patients with AML shown a good tolerance.