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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2020; 41(02): 202-208
DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_155_19
Original Article

Hypomethylating Agents Use in Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Single-Center Experience

Sravan Kumar Bodepudi
Department of Medical Oncology, Ramaiah Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Santhosh Kumar Devdas
Department of Medical Oncology, Ramaiah Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Vinayak V Maka
Department of Medical Oncology, Ramaiah Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Palassery Rasmi
Department of Medical Oncology, Ramaiah Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Sumathi S Hiregoudar
Transfusion Medicine and Blood Centre, Ramaiah Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Nalini Kilara
Department of Medical Oncology, Ramaiah Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

Context: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease. Approximately 80% of older AML patients will die of their disease or its treatment with currently available antileukemic therapy because of the adverse prognostic risk factors. In elderly patients who are not candidates for induction chemotherapy (IC) or who declines IC, the preferred induction regimen is with hypomethylating agents (HMAs). In India, data regarding therapy with HMA, response to therapy and overall survival (OS) is seldom reported. Aims: This study aims to study the response rate and survival of patients treated with HMAs in whom IC was not feasible. Settings and Design: This is retrospective and descriptive single-center study. Subjects and Methods: Data of newly diagnosed AML patients who were unfit for IC and treated with HMA in our institution was collected retrospectively and analyzed. Results: Twenty-three patients received HMAs as a treatment for AML. Eight (34.7%) of 23 patients had initial response to therapy (two [25%] had complete remission [CR], four [50%] had CR with incomplete hematologic recovery, one [12.5%] had partial remission) and one (12.5%) had stable disease. The median progression-free survival and OS observed are 6.06 ± 0.65 months and 7 ± 1.32 months, respectively. Conclusions: HMAs provide an important additional treatment option in newly diagnosed AML patients who are older, with poor performance status, higher comorbidity indices, and who refuse IC.

Keywords

Hypomethylating agents - induction chemotherapy - performance status


Publication History

Received: 18 May 2019

Accepted: 29 December 2019

Article published online:
23 May 2021

© 2020. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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