Outcomes of CAG regimen for refractory biphenotypic acute leukemia patients

To evaluated the efficiency of low-dose cytosine arabinoside plus aclarubicin with concurrent administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (CAG) regimen for refractory biphenotypic acute leukemia (BAL).

We treated 5 refractory BAL patients by CAG regimen (10 mg x m(-2) cytosine arabinoside subcutaneously administrated every 12 hours, day 1-14; 5-7 mg x m(-2) aclarubicin intravenously administrated daily, day 1-8; and concurrently used 200 microg x m(-2) x d(-1) granulocyte colony-stimulating factor subcutaneously) from November 2002 to April 2007. The efficacy of the regimen was evaluated by response rate, and the side effects were also measured.

The complete remission rate was 80%, median duration of absolute neutrophil count < 5.0 x 10(8)/L and platelet count < 2.0 x 10(10)/L was day 13 and day 1, respectively; and the infection rate was low (III-IV infection rate, 20.00%).

CAG regimen as remission induction chemotherapy for BAL patients is effective with a high remission rate and low toxicity.