[Therapy of bacterial infections occuring during aplastic phasis of acute leukemias (author's transl)]

On a three years' period, 122 patients with AL (45 children, 76 adults) received 158 treatments of induction, involving a severe medullary aplasia. In 48 cases (30.4%) none infectious complication was recorded. In the other 110 observations, infections syndrome (septicemia due to gram-negative rods above all) was treated by an early and intensive combination antibiotherapy (three successive protocols are employed, after failure of the precedent), in association with a careful medical reanimation and trasfusions of granulocytes in 16 cases. Regression was obtained in 94 cases (59,5%) but infection was lethal in 16 patients (10.1%). More than cytological variety of AL, principal pronostic element is age (15 deaths among 88 infections episodes in adults, one among 22 in children). Granulocytes rate at the time of aplasia (lower than 500 /mm3) also represents a factor of gravity. Among 94 infections episodes, antibiotherapy was successful alone in 81 cases (86.2%), illustrating the fundamental place of this treatment.