Background: It is unclear whether intensive chemotherapy is beneficial to patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML) if they are aged >/=60 years.
Methods: The authors studied 160 patients with a median age of 67 years who received intensive chemotherapy for MDS or AML with cytosine arabinoside and an anthracycline.
Results: At diagnosis, cytogenetic analysis was available in 146 patients. Karyotype was normal in 78 patients and abnormal in 68 patients. Of the abnormal karyotypes, 32 belonged to the high-risk category, ie, they involved either >/=3 chromosomes or chromosome 7. Complete remission (CR) was achieved by 94 patients (56%). CR rates were 70% among the patients who had a normal karyotype, 69% among the patients who had an abnormal (noncomplex) karyotype, but only 46% among the patients ho had a high-risk karyotype. The median survival was 9.5 months in the entire group, 18 months in patients with normal karyotype, 6 months in patients with abnormal, and 4 months in patients with a high-risk karyotype. A poor prognosis was attributable to low rates of CR and a high risk of early recurrence.
Conclusions: According to the current data, elderly patients with AML or advanced MDS do not benefit from intensive chemotherapy if they show karyotype anomalies, especially those in the high-risk category.