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Secondary leukemia after first-line high-dose chemotherapy for patients with advanced germ cell cancer.

Wierecky J, Kollmannsberger C, Boehlke I, Kuczyk M, Schleicher J, Schleucher N, Metzner B, Kanz L, Hartmann JT, Bokemeyer C

Department of Oncology, Hematology, Immunology, and Rheumatology, Medizinische Klinik, University of Tuebingen Medical Center, Otfried-Mueller-Strasse 10, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.

PURPOSE: We investigated the incidence of secondary leukemia in patients treated with first-line high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) plus autologous stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) for advanced testicular cancer.METHODS: Three hundred and twenty-three patients who were entered into two consecutive prospective Phase-II studies of the German Testicular Cancer Study Group were analyzed. A total of 221 patients had received HD-VIP containing cisplatin, ifosfamide, and etoposide and 102 patients were treated with Tax-HD-VIP containing cisplatin, ifosfamide, etoposide, and paclitaxel, each cycle supported by autologous PBSCT.RESULTS: Patients had received a median cumulative etoposide dose of 4.9 g/m(2) (range, 2.2-9.4 g/m(2)). The median follow-up duration for all patients was 36 months (range, 0-128) with a median follow up time of 50 months (range, 0-128) for patients surviving at least 1 year after therapy. One patient developed a secondary acute myeloid leukemia (s-AML) involving a chromosomal translocation t(11;19)(q23;p13.3) 24 months after the start of chemotherapy resulting in a cumulative incidence of 0.48% [95% confidence interval (CI) 0-1.42]. Additionally, two patients with primary mediastinal germ cell cancer developed a myelodysplastic syndrome. No solid tumors had occurred.CONCLUSIONS: HDCT including high-dose etoposide with autologous PBSCT as first-line therapy for advanced testicular cancer was associated with an acceptably low risk of developing secondary leukemia.

Published 8 February 2005 in J Cancer Res Clin Oncol, 131(4): 255-60.
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