High early death rate in elderly patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia treated with all-trans retinoic acid combined chemotherapy

摘要

In a recent article in Cancer Science, Ono et al. [1] reported that elderly patients (60-70 years) with acute promyelo-cytic leukemia (APL) showed a higher induction death rate and non-relapse mortality during consolidation therapy, resulting in a significantly inferior overall survival rate. Many APL clinical trials have found that intensive chemotherapy combined with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) dramatically improved patient outcomes. Therefore, it has been generally thought that even elderly APL patients should be treated aggressively to increase the likelihood of curing the disease.