Remission maintenance of acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia with BCNU (NSC-409962) and cyclophosphamide (NSC-26271)

Thirteen of 29 patients with acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia achieved complete remission with cyclophosphamide, cytosine arabinoside, and vincristine, and remissions were maintained with a combination of BCNU and cyclophosphamide. The maintenance drugs (200 and 1000 mg/m respectively) were given at 8-week intervals intravenously. Only six of the 13 patients achieving a complete remission have relapsed. The projected median duration of complete remission is 65 weeks and of survival from diagnosis is 144 weeks. These remission and survival durations compare favorably with the results achieved using other forms of remission-maintenance therapy. The advantage of our form of maintenance therapy is that only overnight hospitalization is required at 8-week intervals.