[Treatment of adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia with DCVP-l-asp protocol]

From 1985 to 1991, 20 patients with adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were treated with the DCVP-l-asp protocol, which consists of daunorubicin, cytosine arabinoside, vincristine, prednisolone, and I-asparaginase. of these 17 patients (85%) achieved complete remission. A Kaplan-Meier analysis predicted that 30% of the patients in remission would remain disease-free at 5 years. Four patients relapsed between 1 and 2.5 years from the start of treatment. The median survival time for the four patients with an abnormal karyotype was 15 months. No meningeal relapses occurred in patients treated with regular CNS prophylaxis. Myelosuppression was severe, but was well tolerated with supportive therapy, and there were no treatment-related deaths. We conclude that DCVP-l-asp is a feasible and effective protocol for adult ALLs including elderly patients. However, new treatment modalities, such as bone marrow transplantation, should be explored in patients with unfavorable prognostic factors.