Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Secondary malignancies including myeloid neoplasms occur infrequently in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and to the authors' knowledge have not been as well documented in adults as in children.
METHODS:
A total of 641 patients with de novo ALL who were treated with the hyper‐CVAD (hyperfractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone) regimen or its variants were analyzed.
RESULTS:
Sixteen patients (2.49%) developed secondary acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) (6 patients) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) (10 patients). At the time of ALL diagnosis, the median age was 53 years; cytogenetics were normal in 11 patients, pseudo‐diploidy with del(2) in 1 patient, t(9;22) in 1 patient, and unavailable in 3 patients. Frontline therapy included hyper‐CVAD in 7 patients, hyper‐CVAD with rituximab in 8 patients, and hyper‐CVAD with imatinib in 1 patient. Karyotype at time of AML/MDS diagnosis was −5, −7 in 9 patients, normal in 1 patient, complex in 1 patient, inv(11) in 1 patient, t(4;11) in 1 patient, del(20) in 1 patient, and unavailable in 2 patients. Secondary AML/MDS developed at a median of 32 months after ALL diagnosis. Cytarabine plus anthracycline–based treatment was given to 12 patients with AML and high‐risk MDS. One patient with MDS received arsenic trioxide, 1 received clofarabine, and 2 received decitabine. Response to treatment was complete remission in 3 patients, partial remission in 6 patients, and no response in 6 patients; 1 patient was untreated. Eight patients (1 with AML and 7 with MDS) underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation, and all but 2 died at a median of 3 months (range, 0.5–11 months) after transplantation. The median overall survival after a diagnosis of secondary AML and MDS was 9.25 months (range, 1+ to 26+ months).
CONCLUSIONS:
Secondary AML and MDS occur infrequently in adult patients with de novo ALL treated with the hyper‐CVAD regimens, and response to therapy is poor. Cancer 2009. © 2008 American Cancer Society.