Cancers, Vol. 11, Pages 224: Current Therapeutic Results and Treatment Options for Older Patients with Relapsed Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Cancers, Vol. 11, Pages 224: Current Therapeutic Results and Treatment Options for Older Patients with Relapsed Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cancers doi: 10.3390/cancers11020224 Authors: Felicetto Ferrara Federica Lessi Orsola Vitagliano Erika Birkenghi Giuseppe Rossi Considerable progress has been made in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, current therapeutic results are still unsatisfactory in untreated high-risk patients and poorer in those with primary refractory or relapsed disease. In older patients, reluctance by clinicians to treat unfit patients, higher AML cell resistance related to more frequent adverse karyotype and/or precedent myelodysplastic syndrome, and preferential involvement of chemorefractory early hemopoietic precursors in the pathogenesis of the disease further account for poor prognosis, with median survival lower than six months. A general agreement exists concerning the administration of aggressive salvage therapy in young adults followed by allogeneic stem cell transplantation; on the contrary, different therapeutic approaches varying in intensity, from conventional salvage chemotherapy based on intermediate–high-dose cytarabine to best supportive care, are currently considered in the relapsed, older AML patient population. Either patients’ characteristics or physicians’ attitudes count toward the process of clinical decision making. In addition, several new drugs with clinical...
Source: Cancers - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research